“Mortimer Slater? Does Keera know anything about him other than his name?” Kole asked Tibias between sips of an auburn colored liquid that the old woman was forcing him to choke down. “And for the last time Liddy, I don’t need this. All I need is a night’s sleep and my body will do the rest.”
“Drink it Kole.” Celia said while draped across a violet loveseat sofa. “You’re going to need to recover as much strength as possible as quickly as you can.”
“Is that a prediction?” Kole asked.
“No, it’s just common sense,” she replied with a smile.
“That’s right.” Liddy chimed in from across the room. She was entrenched in a game of solitaire and didn’t bother looking up. “You can’t always rely on those cursed shadow powers of yours, especially when you’re sustaining a wound from Matao’s old sword. Now finish that elixir or I’ll be forced to shove that mug down your throat.”
“That would be counterproductive to his recuperation though, would it not?” Tibias chuckled, sitting in a chair across from her sipping a cup of tea.
“Tibias, answer my question,” Kole said while struggling to sit up on an overly fluffed couch. His body was healing slower than it should have been and it was a great nuisance to get into the sitting position.
“No. She only got his name.”
“And you said she got this information from a dealer of supernatural drugs from the Berkshires?”
Tibias’s face darkened. “Unfortunately yes.”
Tibias was obviously hurt about something, Kole deemed this fact irrelevant and moved on to the next question. “I take it that this information is trustworthy.”
“Miss Trean seems to trust him.”
“Very well then. Let’s move out and see what we can find on Mortimer. “ Kole started to rise, but in a blur of speed that was impressive for a lady of her age, Liddy was at his side with hands on his shoulders, a playing card still in her hand.
“You aren’t going anywhere for now,” she said forcefully. “Don’t make me take drastic measures.”
Kole thought fleetingly about removing the Healer, but decided against it. Instead, he relaxed and let his body dissolve and lose form. He then stood up, and moved through the indignant Liddy to the table where Tibias was seated. As long as he was in shadow form, his pain was greatly reduced and he could bear to stand. It was a decent benefit for being more at home in the shadows than in reality. “If Deus Ignegena is a cult that markets demon blood then this Mortimer might be well known by the supernatural populace as a potential source for that material. We should check there tonight. “
“Correction, Mr. Tarrant, no one will be doing any cult hunting today. We are all still recovering from the encounter,” Tibias interjected. “You are injured. Mr. Holligan is exhausted; Ms. Trean is a bit unstable right now, and even I am roughed up a bit. The best thing we can do as of now is sit down, enjoy a nice cup of tea, and relax for the evening. Liddy is a smart healer and should have all of us straightened out by tomorrow morning. Right, Mrs. Le'Beoux?”
“You will still be sore and have a couple bandages, but if you want to push yourselves, or like experiencing pain, I would say you could do so,” Liddy said as she walked over to where they were. “Now Kole, snap out of that shadow form and sit back down. It is giving everyone chills.”
“I second that; I can almost see my breath!” Celia called out from the sofa while fiddling with a braid.
Surrounded by comrades that were unfortunately making sense, Kole had no other option but to sit back down. “Fine,” he said and with a grunt of effort resumed his corporeal form before sitting down at the table.
Liddy sat back down and continued her game of solitaire. After a few seconds she looked over to Kole. “I notice that the cold is still here.”
“That just means he’s grumpy,” Celia said with a laugh.
“I have no idea what you are talking about Celia,” Kole said.
“Of course you do!” Celia said, now nibbling on one of her braids. “You lost to Mammon. Even you can succumb to the idea of feeling weak. Plus, what is even worse, you are temporarily immobilized, and someone just tried to assassinate you. It is only natural that even someone like you can get at the very least in a bad mood.”
Celia’s words rang true however much Kole didn’t want to admit it. He was a reaper, and only people who possess great power and cunning can become one. Losing to an opponent when going all out irritated Kole to no extent. “You know I can’t feel emotions, Celia.”
“Right, right,” she replied. “After trading your metaphorical soul and emotions away, you supposedly can’t feel anything. I think that is a load of bullshit. You can certainly feel some, like anger, annoyance…”
“Pride,” Tibias added.
“Disgust,” Liddy said as well.
“So you might just be more human than you let on, Kole,” Celia said with a grin.
“Nonsense,” Kole said. “Now I can certainly look for Mortimer and try to relocate Mammon with my shadows like I did last time. It won’t involve moving.” He turned to Liddy. “I won’t strain myself. I can handle it.”
“Fine,” Liddy said with a resigned expression. “If you are so bound and determined to destroy yourself, I am not going to stop you.”
“In the meantime, Celia, see what you can dig up on Mortimer Slater.”
From the sofa, Celia gave him an over-exaggerated salute and rose up and walked towards the door. Celia seemed to hesitate a second before opening it. Grasping the handle she seemed to wait for something and then yanked the door open . Behind the other side of the door was Keera, arm extended, about to knock on the door. She seemed a bit confused.
Celia gave her a pat on the shoulder. “Honey, you don’t need to knock. You are always welcome in my backroom. Now if you excuse me, I need to gather a couple crystals and incense I keep upstairs.” She then brushed by the still unmoving Keera and walked out of sight.
After a couple of seconds of hesitation, Keera walked in and looked at Tibias. “Can we talk quickly?”
Tibias put down his cup of tea. “Didn’t we just talk a few minutes ago?”
“Yes, but I wanted to explain to you why I was acting that way,” she replied.
Liddy got up and grabbed Kole by the arm, lifting him out of his chair, and making him experience a few pangs of pain. “I think we should bring you up to the roof to do your shadowspying.”
Before Kole realized it, they were squeezing by an awkward Keera and were out of that room. Suppressing the urge to kill once again, he gathered his composure, broke free from the vicious healer's grip, and walked up the stairs towards the roof, refusing to use any form of support to help him up.
As they walked up the stairs, Celia came right back down. Kole saw Liddy give Celia what he could determine to be a warning about the backroom. Celia continued descending and went over to Royal and Carahya, who were bickering about something Kole didn’t bother to listen to.
Kole reached the top of the stairs and felt like he just ran a marathon. “You know how to get to the roof?” Liddy asked.
“Yes,” Kole said.
“Good,” Liddy said. “Now, this building is currently protected by wards that should mask our presences, but if you see anything strange outside, come back in immediately.”
“I know,” Kole said in the most dismissive manner he could muster. He did not like the way the healer treated him. “My senses aren’t that weakened, plus I have encountered them multiple times before.”
“Just making sure,” she said with a toothy grin. “Now if you excuse me, I will join your friends downstairs while you use your shadowstuffs.”
Kole wasn’t even listening to her anymore. He just wanted to relax and become one with the shadow for a while. As soon as Liddy descended the stairs, Kole walked to the nearest window and opened it to reveal a lower section of the roof. He carefully extricated himself onto the decaying cover and cloaked the nearby shadows around him, letting his body blend into them. He felt a huge pressure suddenly subside as the body that caused him so much pain faded away. He was ready to start the hunt.
