Chapter 16

Cotner gulped audibly.  “H-h-here?”

Ashley slowly put her gun together, holstering it with the safety off.  Gary’s eyes were calm as he looked around.

“That’s why we can never pin it down.”  Celine whispered, “It was always listening in on us.  Always one step ahead of us.”

“The Valdemars.”  Ashley said, her eyes flickering towards one of the doors.

Artemvian quietly noted Ashley’s reaction, guessing that the ‘Clients’ lay that way..  “It’s fine, it’s not here with us right now.”

“And you know this, how?”  Gary’s tone was skeptical.  “Boss, he’s spouting off theories.  I’ll admit, they make sense.  But you can’t expect us to take his words at face value.”

“It’s not.”  But Celine’s words weren’t as snappy as before.  She didn’t put that extra authoritative ‘oomph’ into it.  “I told you.  He managed to chase off a Darkling.”

“You know what I’m talking about, Lieutenant.”  Gary didn’t back down.  “None of us saw it.”

“He’s a Mercenary.  We paid him.”  Celine replied.

Gary shrugged.  “We’ve been there, done that.  Do I need to tell you how many times we overpaid for a ‘Mage’ who couldn’t do half the things they bragged about?”

Celine sighed and shrugged, looking at Artemvian.

So that’s how it was going to be.  Celine was going to leave this one to Artemvian.

Oh, Artemvian was plenty familiar with the reasons why Celine didn’t just use her position to strongarm Gary into letting Artemvian take the lead.  That kind of trust could go only so far.  If Artemvian didn’t prove himself to Gary, who seemed to be the second-in-command, none of the others would wholeheartedly follow his orders.  They might cut corners and question him at every turn.  That kind of attitude was expected in an organization like this where their lives were on the line.

Celine helping him would only aggravate the issue.

Celine knew it.  Artemvian knew it.

Smiling, Artemvian turned to Gary.  “Now now, no need to get your under robes in a bunch.”  He spread his hands amicably.  “I’m sure there’s a way to reassure you of my competence.”

“You’re telling us that you can sense the Daemon’s presence.  You also claim that the Daemon has been here all along, listening to us.”  Gary’s gaunt cheeks furrowed as the man dropped the scowl, his expression turning accusatory.  “Prove it.”

Artemvian never stopped smiling, but spoke no words.  He didn’t need to.

Already, tiny threads of his mana were spreading out like a spider’s web.  So tiny and thin, that they were nearly imperceptible –at least at the level of Talent these people had anyways.  He couldn’t tell how powerful they were just yet, but none of them were mages.  So Artemvian threaded the invisible and undetectable strings of mana while Gary talked.

And the strings relayed their information back to him.

Artemvian pointed to Gary.  “You’re a fire user.  Most likely a Special, from the looks of it.”  Then he pointed to Ashley.  “Cybernetic Enhancements in your right eye, hands and your legs.  Not only that, you have a bit of talent around you… it looks like you might have some talent that has to do with your eyes.  Judging from the guns, you use your cybernetic enhancements in conjunction with your eye-magic for supernaturally enhanced accuracy.”

Ashley raised an eyebrow but did not reply.

“What, how did he-”  Gary began.

“And you,”  Artemvian cut in, turning to Cotner, “You’re the most sensitive of the bunch.  A special who’s specializing in detection?”

Cotner nodded, his eyes wide with both admiration and wonder.

Ashley’s lips curled into a lazy smirk.  “Oh, he’s good, Lieutenant.  He’s real good.”

“The fuck?”  Gary said quietly.  “He’s an Empath?  What’d he do, lift that straight out of our minds?  So what, you can sense the Darkling the same way?”

“If he read our minds without us even realizing it, then he’s better than all of us combined or… he’s using some other trick.”  Ashley gave a curt nod to Celine and finished fidgeting with her gun, holstering it.  “Good choice, Lieutenant.”

Celine gave a grunt.  “Cort?  Gary?”

“I-I never had a problem in the first place.”  The portly man said, trying not to stare at Artemvian too much.

Gary glared at Artemvian for a few more seconds but his heart wasn’t in it.  He, too, was impressed.  “Ok, you win.  I hope you don’t take offense, we’ve had some bad experiences in the past with Mercenaries.”

“None taken!”  Artemvian’s cheerful mood did nothing to lift up the heavy air.  “I’m a professional.”  He said in a false whisper, pretending to tell Gary some kind of secret.

Artemvian had chosen the subtle method on purpose.  In a room full of people like this, they’d be more likely to respect a professional who kept their cards close to their chest.  A mercenary who went around showing off everything that they could do would be taken for a fool.  Or end up with a bullet in their forehead.  Or so Riley often said.

Another reason that Artemvian chose to resolve this matter subtly was the darkened mood of everything.  This place was officially Haunted Grounds, or well on its way to becoming one.  The Daemon’s aura would linger, bringing out the darker emotions in the living beings around it.  Like anger, sadness, depression and even hate.  Like a poisoned well, the effects would only grow stronger in effect and larger in size as the Daemon lurked longer and longer.

From the look of things, Celine and her team had been here awhile.  Artemvian didn’t want to aggravate the situation or hurt them further.  They looked like good people.  And hurting good people…

That wasn’t Artemvian’s style.

“So you say that the Darkling is not here,”  Celine continued the conversation, naturally moving the case along, “What do we do?  Set up an ambush for it?”

“No, if none of us can detect the damned thing…”  Gary paused then looked to Artemvian.  “But you can.  So we can ambush the thing.”

“No chance.”  Artemvian cut the air with his hand.  “The same way that I can sense it, the Daemon can sense me.  Since I gave it a good old kick in the behind, it’ll avoid me.  Of course, it probably already knows I’m here and is plotting as we speak.”

“Does that mean it’s going to move?  Haunt somewhere else?  Someone else?”  Ashley’s eyes were flat with quiet anger.

Artemvian shook his head.  “Daemons don’t work like that.  They’re only as powerful as…well, there’s a variety of factors.  How long they’ve been haunting their target, the intensity of the fear that their target feels, as well as the amount of blood, violence and pain they can inflict.  That’s why most people don’t even realize they’re dealing with a Daemon until the later stages, they often write it off to a Poltergeist or a Boggart.  Which can be just as bad…”

“So what you’re saying is, if the Daemon decides to haunt somewhere else… it’s going to lose a lot of its power and have to start over?”  Celine summarized.

“Bingo! Ding ding ding! We have a winner here!”  Artemvian shot over a wink and pointed at Celien with double finger guns but she ignored him. “So nice to talk to professionals in the Supernatural scene.”

Artemvian had casually slipped in the Boggart and Poltergeist in his speech on purpose, to check their reactions.  So far, none of them looked too confused.

“Then what’s the plan?”  Celine pressed.

“Gotta talk to the Clients.”  Artemvian shrugged.  “Can’t do anything unless we can find out what serves as an anchor for the Daemons.”

“An Anchor?”

“A Daemon can’t have entered this house on its own.”  Artemvian went over to the window where Cotner was, opening the blinds.  Cotner, scared but curious, peeked out the window.

And there, pressed up against the blinds was a face.

Teeth bared in a furious smile, hands pressed against the window to erase the outside light and hollow bloodshot eyes staring in, a face covered completely in fur.  Two wicked horns click-clacked against the window as it pushed against the window in surprise then disappeared by flying away into the night sky, blending in with the darkness.

“HOLY SHIT! WHAT THE FUCK! AHHH!”  Cotner immediately backpedaled from the window, screaming and diving for the couch.

Ashley and Celine’s reactions were even faster.  Ashley brought out her gun and Celine dove for the window, her hands already lighting up with blue electricity.

And Gary’s hands were alight with flame.

Artemvian’s eyes were flat but he waved his hands towards the group.  “Settle down.  It won’t enter the house yet.  It’s still weakened from the last fight… and it probably knows that you know of its existence now.”

“What the fuck?!”  Celine cursed.  “How long has it been fucking spying on us?!”  

“About two seconds.  It heard nothing.”  Artemvian said calmly, his eyes glued to the sky.  Right now, he only had his staff and he didn’t like his chances.  “I think.”

“You knew?  You sensed it?!”  Gary questioned, but he was already calming down, hands no longer holding embers.

“Yes.  Just right now.”

“Why not tell us?”  Celine questioned.

“It would have heard and flown away.”  Artemvian replied.  “I needed you gys to see what it was that we were dealing with.”

And their reactions.  But he didn’t voice that part outloud.

“Wasn’t that a chance?”  Ashley said calmly.  “To kill it?”

Finally, someone was asking the right questions.

Artemvian shrugged.  “Maybe.  Maybe I shoot off some spells through the window.  It already has an invitation into this household, so it comes in.  Maybe it takes one of you guys hostage.  Maybe it takes our clients hostage.”  His voice turned cold.  “Maybe I win, but it kills a lot of people in the process.”

Celine put a hand on her chest, which was whirring with… with the sounds of a computer.  Artemvian wondered just what kind of Cybernetic Enhancements went inside a person’s body.

“What’s to keep it from sneaking back in?”  Celine asked.

“I’m here.”  Artemvian said confidently.

And this time, no one questioned him.

“The Valdemars.”  Celine pointed towards one of the doors.  “Ashley, Cotner.  Go check on them.”

“Actually, Lieutenant Celine, it might be better to bring them out here.”  Artemvian said, walking up to all of the window and beginning to unfurl the blinds.  Everytime he did so, Cotner jolted like he expected another face.  “I have a couple of questions to ask them anyways.”

Celine nodded and the two agents left the living room.

“Holy shit.”  Gary went over to the kitchen and poured himself a glass of water.  “That was creepy.  Fucking spooky.”

“Thought you’d have seen a lot of things like that.”  Artemvian finished opening all the windows.  It made him feel better.  A lot better.

But the other occupants in the room kept looking about like rats, ready to react at the slightest jolt.

It wasn’t just the fact that they saw the Darkling.  Well, none of them had actually gotten a good look at the thing.  It was more of the fact that the thing was a thinking lifeform.  The way it had been pressed up against the window with its hands folded into binoculars had been an eerily human gesture.  Combined with the fact that this Daemon had been in the house with them before and the Daemon’s lingering aura which heightened negative emotions…

“A normal person would've had a panic attack by now.”  Artemvian said to himself.  “I guess agents will be agents.”

“What was that?”  Celine asked.

“You guys never dealt with Darklings before?”

Celine looked away, walking over to Gary and pouring herself a drink.  Gary looked at the Lieutenant with unreadable eyes then back to Artemvian.  

“Not on a scale this big.”  He said in her stead.  “Never… face to face.”

Something here didn’t make sense.  For government agents who were supposed to be good at dealing with these things, they were too green.  Even the fact that Celine hired Artemvian was a little fishy.  There was something going on here –apart from the Daemon issue at hand.  A backstory for why someone like Cotner who was as green as he could be, was on a team that dealt with the supernatural workings that the Societal Elites reported to the government.

While Artemvian was wondering how the government of this world functioned, the door opened to the living room.  Celine and Gary managed not to jump out of their skin but only barely.  Artemvian snickered at them and was met with a death glare from Celine.

Ashley and Cotner walked in, leading a young man and a young woman –obviously a couple.

“Mr. and Mrs. Valdemir.  Please meet Mr. Delacreau.  He’s a consultant we’ve hired who specialized in cases just like this.”  Ashley introduced him.

Artemvian walked over and shook their hands.  “Pleasure.  Such a pleasure.”

“Please, if there’s anything I can do to help-”  Mr. Valdemir began.

Artemvian didn’t even let him finish.

“As a matter of fact, you can start by answering some questions.”  Artemvian didn’t let go of the young man’s hand, giving him a smile.

“Did you cheat on your wife?”