Mother of Magic

Guild Hall

The Guild Hall for the Western region of North America was located in the California Napa Valley. Silena explained it when they were planning their trip here.

"The Guild is worldwide. You probably knew that."

"I know nothing about the Guild other than what you have said in passing." Stephanie pointed out. "Not from here. Remember?"

"Yeah. OK. But Ava should know about the organization. Witches use the Guild worldwide." Silena said.

"In Seattle, we used the Napa-based Guild Hall for most things." Ava allowed.

"There you go. Now, if you needed something done up North? That'd be Toronto's hall. East Coast you have Jacksonville Hall. Down south you have Monterrey. Finally, for the central region, you have Witchita. Five Halls to cover North America."

"These Halls are all in the same organization?" Le had asked.

"Each Hall has a leader and the leadership coordinates. Each Hall can be a little culturally different. Especially when you get to international ones, but they are more or less the same too. The mission is assassins and spies for hire. Paid by Witches for the most part, since they have all the money. Not all, but you understand. If some rich chick or dude someplace wants their Ex erased, that is always possible too. Usually more interesting than that kind of mundane shit. The spy stuff was more interesting than the hits, even if sometimes that meant you were screwing someone you didn't like to get the job done."

"Yuch." Stephanie commented.

"You think? Pro tip here: Only take that job if a Witch commissions it."

That got a raised eyebrows from Stephanie. "Why is that?"

Ava answered that one. "Because they build into the contract for assignments like that Healing. Unwanted pregnancy. Social diseases. Things like that. Things only a Witch can deal with."

"Birth control is not a thing here I guess. I have not seen anything other than rubbers at the store. No pills. No morning after. I talked to Doc Barnes about my IUD and he was fascinated by it. Never heard of such a thing." Stephanie said.

"It is an interesting idea." Ava said.

"Would not help you with the clap." Silena said.

Stephanie conceded the point. "No. True. Works well with Le because ... well. Obvious reasons."

"Right. But you head in to seduce some head of state or political hack of some kind, and you can walk away with a serious case of the clap. Powerful people hate to wear rubbers. So you build into the contract full healing. You want your body literally, completely one hundred percent purged of that assignment." Silena made a face.

"I would not make it in your old line of work. Never mind the killing part. I only like sex with people I like." Stephanie commented.

"You and me both." Silena touched her sternum, then flicked her fingers away in a shooing gesture. "Glad to be done with it all. I got myself a great boss, a new gig, I only have to kill to protect friends, and the guy I started something with in this town is clean and has his own rubber supply. I didn't even have to bring them."

"Seems you still have your training. In a good way. You knew those assassins were in an arc behind us when I was talking to Bri. No one else did. Not even Tasha until you told her."

Silena pursed her lips in remembrance. "I know a killing field when I see it. That setup was all wrong. Circle of Fire perfect. Hell: They were using weapons that were set up for that distance. Even the rifles had low-velocity bullets in them. If they hadn't that bullet in Brianna would have been a through-shot at that range. They were being sure they didn't kill anyone on the far side of the killing circle. No. Whole thing stunk. I looked back, saw a scope glint, and knew Tash and I had to get busy."