“Lady Vanador,” Master Bennet said warningly, “Lord Black is to be treated with the respect due his position, regardless of which duchy he is currently standing in.”
The terra-dracon woman turned to face the council and did not withdraw her question. “Masters, the last time I was in Barcon, there was a church to Achirun the Deceiver right across the street from Lord Black’s tower,” she explained, pointing a clawed finger his way. “If his loyalties lie with an underworld demon lord, I’m not sure we belong trying to help him.”
Lord Black shrugged. “His priests are among the best lawyers in the world,” he said casually. “Far be it from me to tell my citizens who they can or cannot worship. After all, I even allow your deity to maintain a church in my city despite the fact that your Order would like nothing more than to remove me from power.”
He cut off the priests even as they tried to speak, waving a hand dismissively. “This is not the issue at hand. Your Order is sworn to help those being attacked by demons, and my city is being attacked by demons. Your feelings about me aside, this is something you are sworn to help with. Refuse me your help and I will take my issue before the Dukes of both Brunswick and Sutherland; I am certain they will be less than impressed with your hesitation.” Kaelin folded his wings tight to his back and draped his cloak over his shoulders as he prepared to leave. “I will be in the city until tomorrow. It should take at least that long for the Blood Order—the assassin’s guild you allow to work right under your noses—to find me. Until then.”
Kari turned and watched his egress, and she marked the incredulous stare on Albrecht’s face for a moment before she turned back to the council. “Masters, did you want my help determining who to send to Barcon?”
Master Bennet glanced to each of the other human males at the table before he met Kari’s gaze once more. “No. We were considering sending you personally,” he said, which surprised her. “We have other hunters closer to Barcon, stationed in Gnarr and Sarchelete; however, we have reason to believe there is far more to this situation than is immediately apparent. How many of Bosimar’s records have you managed to sort through thus far?”
Kari squared her jaw and shrugged sheepishly. “Not many, I’m afraid, Master,” she admitted. “At least, not much that’s been all that useful. He kept a lot of records, and I’ve really only just come across something interesting today. But it involves snakes, so I don’t see how it would have anything to do with Barcon or Kae… Lord Black.”
“But you said yourself that there was a church to Achirun right near Lord Black’s tower,” said Master Arinotte, the youngest priest on the council. Arinotte was a dark-skinned human in charge of an arm of Zalkar’s church that dealt with countering the schemes of unscrupulous deities from Koryon. Though those deities were not officially part of the merged pantheon, they took a great deal of pleasure in harassing their Koryonite fellows and, consequently, the people of Citaria. “What concerns us is not just that Lord Black’s city is under attack or being subverted by the underworld, but that Lord Black himself may either be an agent of Achirun or some other underworld lord, or else may be being subverted by one.”
“Lord Black is correct in one regard: The Order does have a duty to aid his citizens, regardless of our feelings toward him,” Master Perez added. Perez was one of the oldest ranking priests of Zalkar and had only joined the council after retiring from active military service in the Duke’s army. He was a decorated officer who’d served with particular distinction in the Apocalypse and countering the siege of DarkWind during that Great War and was one of the most respected members of the entire Order. “It would also not serve our Order well to refuse an earl and possibly anger the Duke of Sutherland. Are you open to field duty, Lady Vanador?”
Kari considered the question and the prospect of being away from her mate and child for several months, and she bit her lower lip for a moment. She couldn’t deny that she missed field work after three years of administrative duties, but her motherly instincts fought staunchly against those of a veteran demonhunter. “Would I be working alone on this?” she asked. She briefly considered bringing her mate and child with her but dismissed it out of hand. She couldn’t risk putting them in danger to lessen her own heartache.
“We would leave that up to you,” Master Bennet answered. “The council does not recommend that you hunt a serial killer alone, but you may decide to take an outside group—such as your mate’s siblings—if you prefer. Take the evening and reach a decision. As it stands, we need not give Lord Black our answer until he returns tomorrow. If you choose not to go, we will respect that decision. We only ask that you tell us which of our closer-stationed hunters you think would best handle this mission for the Order.”
Kari regarded Albrecht, who nodded, and the two saluted their superiors. “I’ll have my answer for you by morning, Masters,” Kari said. “In the meantime, I’ll see if I can find anything in Bosimar’s records that might tell us why demons are interested in Barcon.”
Kari left the temple with Albrecht. She could see the stares of most of the cadets and many veteran hunters followed her toward the administrative building. It was clear some of them were still simply awestruck by her fame, but most were curious why Kaelin Black had visited the campus. Black was well known to the Demonhunter Order: He was one of the most prominent “mortal problems” recruits were taught about and veterans were kept aware of. Since the Demonhunter Order was also considered a world-wide law enforcement agency under the control of the god of law, demons were far from the only problems they kept track of. To have one of their biggest nemeses show up on their doorstep was quite a surprise.
Kari returned to her office and retrieved the box she’d been going through, and after she bid her coworkers farewell, she walked home. She and Grakin lived with his mother, Kyrie Kyleah, who had welcomed the couple and their coming child into her home when they returned from Tsalbrin. The house was close to the temple of Kaelariel, where Kyrie served as high priestess and Grakin served as a healer. It was a large, spacious house; Kyrie had planned for all of her children to come live with her. Since their return from Tsalbrin, that had become a reality while they sought mates and homes of their own in DarkWind.
The northern district of DarkWind, where many of the temples were, was also comprised of the larger and more luxurious homes belonging to the wealthy and powerful. Well-protected during the Great War, what minimal damage it had sustained had been easily repaired over the previous three years. Other parts of the city were still being fixed, and the population was leveling out again as laborers and other craftsmen from the southern and western counties relocated to aid in the reconstruction. There was even talk that the duke might have the mighty Fortress of DarkWind restored after centuries of neglect, once the city was back to normal. Three years after its end, the effects of the Great War were still visible, though, and many still felt its effects.
And Kari’s Order was no exception: While they’d had a significant influx of recruits since the War, they had lost many of their best and brightest hunters in the conflict.
Kari approached her mother-in-law’s house. It was modest for its neighborhood. It had many bedrooms, but not that much property, and wasn’t overly luxurious. It was important for the people to see that the high priestess of the god of freedom didn’t live in splendor while they suffered, even though it was well-known that Kaelariel’s temple was one of the foremost in caring for orphans and widows. Kyrie maintained several gardens and a few small fruit trees when she wasn’t tending to Kaelariel’s temple, so the house was quaint and had a country feel to it despite its urban location. Around its exterior on two sides was a long, wide porch with several rocking chairs and a swing. Kari could see her mate was seated in one of the rockers.