Infernal Investigations

I whistled as I opened the door to the warehouse where I’d hidden my old gear.

A day had passed since my tenuous truce had been established with Tagashin, and so far it was holding. Oh, snide remarks, but nothing like making me hit my injured leg. Nothing like bringing people to see me feasting on cows like an animal.

I dreaded the next time I met Gregory. Confess I had an imp inside my head and that was payment for its help? That opened up an entirely different issue with him, since I was pretty sure he did not know. Worse, had he told others in his family? Had his sister?

Was I going to wake up someday with the newspapers on articles about the strange, diabolism-practicing Infernal Voltar kept in his house being seen gnawing her way through the stomach of a dead cow?

Suddenly, poisoning Tagashin seemed far, far less than what she deserved.

I went inside, closing the door behind me. The walk through the Quarter had been sedate. Far too sedate. A splinted Infernal should have at least gotten one pickpocket trying to take advantage of them, more than likely three, and a mugger as well.

I had my hand tightly wrapped in cloth, looking like a bandage. I already had one over my other hand, over the still-healing wound where a knife had been stabbed through my palm. This one thought was for a much more mundane purpose.

I already stood out enough as is. A Black Flame insignia wasn’t the kind of mark I wanted to be displayed at the moment, especially not with recent events.

Some people would know anyway. I’d let the face of Danielle Water revert back to my own last night. There weren’t many Infernals with my ancestry. Still, someone should have tried to mug me by now.

A whole day had passed since the events at Lord Montague’s party. I would have heard about a riot, but if an intimidation attempt had been made, well. The Quarter was less populated than it used to be.

It didn’t take long to secure my remaining equipment, but carrying it was somewhat awkward. I should have brought someone else along so I didn’t reopen a wound. Tomorrow. Tomorrow I’d rest.

Someone was waiting for me as I left the warehouse.

“Varrow,” I said, moving the box to my other arm as I eyed the other Infernal. “You knew about this address?”

“Not until recently,” he replied, eyes lingering on my broken leg. “How’d you get that broken?”

“Haven’t you read the news?” I began to move past him, pausing just to lock the door behind me.

“Yeah. Didn’t mention you getting injured.”

“Fighting shapechangers isn’t very easy, it turns out,” I said. “I’ve got more I would show off if we weren’t in public.”

Public in this case meant a few scattered Infernals in the alleyways. People were making themselves scarce today. I couldn’t blame them.

“Yeah, I’m sure. Almost tore your arms off like those Watch officers back when you were twelve?”

That stirred some old memories. “In our defense, you used to set very unreasonable quotas for how much should be brought in each night. Varrow, how did you find out about the address?”

“Tried to backtrack you after you visited my house; the earliest I could find someone spotting you was in this area. You’re pretty memorable.”

I should have not changed my face back so soon, but I’d hardly had control at that time. In this case, I’d just felt like I wanted my old face book. Silly, after not wearing it for so long, to want it back on so often now.

I started walking back down the alley I’d entered from, Varrow matching me step for step.

“Marchers are down this way,” Varrow warned me. “And they’re more riled up after what happened. About that, since you were there?”

I sighed. “If we’re going to have this conversation, could you carry this for me?”

“You’d offload your baggage on a poor older man? Shame, and learn to respect you elders girl.”

I stared at him, then looked down at my splinted, probably still in need of a cast leg.

“Only until we reach the quarter then. Pass it here.”

I handed it off, then clopped further down the alleyway. “There was an assault by Infernals on the party, probably meant as a distraction. Not Black Flame, but street dregs probably paid a pittance to pretend to be the actual Flame.”

“Shite. So it wasn’t made up?”

“Nope, and that was pretty much my reaction. Didn’t realize things were so desperate people could fall for a fool thing like that.”

Varrow laughed. “Just because the quarter’s better doesn’t mean it's better for everyone Malvia. Always people who are desperate, who’ll risk everything for a chance. Or hells, maybe they were just tricked. Told they’d be doing a different job, burst in, find out they were sold a fake bill of goods.”

“True,” I said. “They’ve cost us all with that stunt though.”

“So? You saying you haven’t done the same? But that’s not what I want to talk about. That bruiser you hang out with? Tolman? He’s started asking me about you. I got a pretty good idea who he actually is as well. How many Black Flame are going to start showing up at my home, disguised or not? Because two is already pushing my patience Malvia!”

“Not too many,” I answered. “He’s fishing. I have a decent idea why. He’ll stop once he starts reading the newspapers and realizes where I am.”

“Do you think he remember he can? Did he ask you to shrink his wits when you gave him that body?”

I rolled my eyes. Tolman acted the fool, and I’d certainly been irritated with his lack of care over the last few weeks. I was beginning to wonder exactly how much of that was real though. Some things were beginning to occur as time went on. Things that should have far earlier.

“Don’t worry about Tolman. He’ll ease off.”

“I don’t like being on the Black Flame’s radar Malvia.”

“Neither do I, but I have to live with it. My suggestion? Lay low. No offense intended, but if you don’t make any more noise I think everyone will forget about you. But don’t worry about Tolman. I doubt he’d hurt you.”

“He’s not the only person whose been looking for you,” Varrow said as we continued down the alleyway. “Kalasyp resurfaced.”

It took me a second to remember. It had only been a couple of weeks but that now felt so long ago.

“I imagine he had quite a shock when he resurfaced,” I said. “I did get most of his contracts done at least. You crossed paths?”

“Oh no, he came to see me.”

I halted as the statement caught me off-guard.

“Really? He came to see you. How...strange Kalasyp.”

“Oh, it gets even weirder. Same old, upper crust attitude, wrong words. Tick, drug addict, even accused me off being a snitch. Never used those words before. I told him I was still smarting from him slamming my fingers with your door when we were waiting that morning, he didn’t protest. Didn’t raise a fuss when I served him some shite tea I’d brewed. And then said it was a thank you for him letting me go first that morning. Again no correction.”

My mind went to an immediate answer for that off behavior and seemingly missing memories. One could be too paranoid when dealing with Shapechangers of course, but the only counterpoint I could think of is why Kalasyp? He had no involvement in this.

Or did he? He’d been hired for a special job he’d hinted, one likely to keep him occupied and nowhere near the surface. He’d said only a few days, but had that been the truth of what Kalasyp had been fed to believe? They must have had an alchemist before then though, so why they needed another escaped me.

“What did Mr. Kalasyp have to ask you?”

“First he wanted to know where you were. Wasn’t too happy when I said I didn’t know. I didn’t get the sense he didn’t believe me, and he didn’t press.”

“Probing,” I muttered. “I can’t believe they knew of any deeper connection, they probably just sent one out to check any possible loose ends. I’d be careful, just in case. And tell me if he approaches you again.”

“Thanks Harrow. You also want to tell me to not go up to Watch Officers bragging about how many people I’ve pickpocketed?”

“Well, they’ve stopped torturing people,” I replied. “So maybe a stay in a cell might do you some good. Give you some time to think. Exercise all that dusty machinery in your head. Did he say anything else?”

“Not much. Wanted to know if I’d seen you. Asked if I’d known you were Black Flame. Wanted to pay me to keep an eye on you. I didn’t take the coin since it probably had trackers on it. Pity.”

“And how confident are you that you weren’t followed?” I asked, looking up into the sky.

“Decently sure. What are you doing? Trying to get in a staring contest with the sun?”

“Seeing if any birds might be following us.

Varrow missed a step, then glanced up at the sky. Several birds were up there, some too distant and obscured by the morning smog to make out their species. Even just in the thin slit of sky seen between the walls of the buildings on either side of us, there were easily thirty flitting about up there.

“You’re bullshitting me.”

“I’m not. I wouldn’t have done this before, because I thought they couldn’t change their mass.”

“Their what?”

“Weight. Size. You’ve got druids who can change into specific animals but typically they have spirits or gods they offload the issues of changing overall mass onto. They also only have one form, so it’s typically in concrete amounts or percentages. Shifters though, they’ve constantly been changing their mass and size. Usually upwards, but one of them got out through a tiny crack between my floor and the bottom of my door. If I had to pick a way to track someone, and I could change into anything, that would be a good pick.”

Varrow changed the focus of his gaze from the skies above to the ground around us. “What about vermin? No one pays too much attention to rats, insects, and the others like them.”

“Possibly. Bit more dangerous though. Natural predators, and a chance of being trod upon. Whereas a bird of prey? Less chance of the former, no chance of the latter.”

Varrow looked back up the sky. “If this doesn’t get figured out I don’t think I’ll ever get a good night’s sleep again.”

“Don’t think anyone in the city will. Silver lining to the newspapers focusing so much on the Infernal assault. Rest of the city gets a more comfortable night's sleep at our expense.”

I did wonder about some of the articles, which had been questioning on the exact nature of Hawkins. A lot of leading questions about if he could have been a diabolically created monstrosity. Even Lord Montague’s mention of them as Shapechangers hadn’t stopped that line of thinking from taking hold in a few papers. A few experts on Biosculpting had been dug up who’d had some thoughts on the possibility of combined Diabolism and Biosculpting that were favorable to the idea.

That’s all some would need to dismiss the idea of the two not being related. Just another reason to hate the Infernals more, if they were using Hell-magic to infiltrate the ranks of proper citizens of the Empire.

I chuckled. I’d be using magic of the non-hell variety to do exactly that very soon.

“Something funny about that?”

“My mind got ahead of me. Not far enough away, though, I can still hear. Not your voice, that.”

That was the by now familiar earnings and ravings of the March leader. By now I had a name to put to the face, Micheal Simmons, a high-ranking priest of Halspus, said to be quite trusted by the church leadership. Currently ranting and raving about the corruption of morals and the fiends among everyday citizens waiting to take control of the city.

“It was like this yesterday?” I asked Varrow.

“It was worse yesterday,” Varrow replied. “There was a competition then, some politician on the other side of the quarter. Baron Thomien and everybody got to listen to those two try to out-yell each other. Their supporters trying to beat people up on the outskirts, getting bloodied in return. We haven’t had a riot. Yet.”

We were now near the marchers, a familiar sight. This was an intersection, not far down from the Hell’s Own, which meant actual cobblestones for a roadway. This also meant traffic, as a couple of wagons loitered waiting for this to clear up.

They’d be waiting a while as a new wagon came into sight on the other side of the road, continuing past the others despite yells from irritated drivers.

The wagon stopped moving near the lines, the pair of Infernals guiding it getting off. I froze as both started running, startling Marcher, Watch Officer, and Infernal alike. I knew these tactics. So did Varrow, and he was already a hoof ahead of me as the wagons exploded, the entire load of gunpowder hidden inside it detonating.