Strange Aeons [Book 1]

23. The Mousetrap [part II]

«I'll just have to ask him, directly.» River said, passing through the traffic on his bike, with Banshee sitting in front of him. River had exited the house much darker than he entered.

«Did you find something?» she asked. He frowned.

«No. Not exactly. I mean, let's be clear, I know he's into some shady stuff, even if I don't know exactly what he's doing, and by the way, I wouldn't tell you if I did: his things are his things.» he said, harsher than usual, but Banshee didn't reply and let him go on. «But his house had just a smidge of too much German in it, and even if he is rich and we know, I mean we saw his car and everything, this could be Councilor rich. Because we know this is not his only house.»

«It's not?»

«Nope. Perch Street? The place you bombed was under his city house. He had at least one another, but there we never went. A castle, I think, too.»

«This is serious money.»

«So, all right, we didn't find any proof that he could be linked to the werepeople, but if he is a Councilor using my Coven for something, I want to know. And if he's a Councilor who's plotting something with the werepeople, I want to know too.»

«And how do you plan to make him confess?» she asked, with a line of worry in her voice.

«Oh, I have my methods. I've been an Enforcer since I was twenty-one Banshee, don't worry. This is one of the things we train for.» he smiled sideways. «Mages always lie.»

«Please, if you need help just ask.» she begged of him, jumping down from the bike when they got in front of her building.

He just winked to her and disappeared again into the traffic. Banshee shook her head and climbed the stairs up to the apartment.

She entered her home to find herself in front of a very unusual picture.

On the kitchen table, and in the whole room, there was a heap of components, open books, floating pages, and parchment sheets. Chico was reading through something, while Vopros was handling some ingredients inside a very large bowl. In the middle of it all, Garaham was pacing around the room, checking symbols written on the wall and on the floor.

«Oh! You're back!» Chico raised his head from the book. «Tell me you found a written confession and a photo of Jägermann shaking hands with the werepeople's clan leader or stuff.»

«Nay. We found shit.» she denied, walking carefully into the room. She looked at the symbols, trying and recognize at least some of them. It looked way more complicated than any other ritual they had ever tried to make. «Oh, apart from the creepy half-alive corpse in the basement with the blue butterflies.»

Now that she got their attention, she launched in a precise report of the whole operation, down to every detail of the creepy cellar she had found. Chico's eyes emitted a dangerous gleam when he heard about it all and was more than eager to receive the photos of the sheets that Banshee passed him.

«I've never known Jägermann was into necromancy, not this far anyway. Raising the dead is not that difficult, but what you're describing goes way beyond. I've never heard of something like that.»

«Ah! He's into some serious old-timey shit. There was a book in Latin, there.»

«Banshee, I know that you enter a library only when you miss the door for the bathroom, but hundreds of magic books are in Latin.» Garaham scoffed.

«Aye, but this was under a glass case, so maybe it was the one from where all that shit came?» she offered.

«And what was the title? The Liber Mortis? The De Morte Arcana?»