Originally posted September 8, 2008
((This story began as a collaboration with another member of the Teen Phalanx, Insulator. Based on some RP we started, I thought it a good time to bring in Siobhan's vampire grandmother in from offstage. This bit holds loosely to the rest of Cracking the Crey, serving to remind Siobhan of her roots and inspire more cunning.))
Siobhan juggled the books in her arms as she searched her rucksack for keys. A long afternoon and evening spent among the stacks of the Midnighters' Club hadn't yielded any results. Disappointment and hunger had finally driven her home. She could review a few tomes over some stew and a pint.
Shiv inserted the key in the lock and loosened the wards around her apartment. She paused before turning the handle. She felt Jacek's presence, uncloaked in her personal space. If that wasn't unusual enough, the flat contained three other familiar presences.
Shiv sighed. "There goes mae love life," she muttered to herself quietly. "Jist as it was getting interesting." The handle turned beneath her hand and the door opened. "Hello Siobhan."
Isolde stood in the doorway, one hand resting on the handle. Her long blonde hair threatened to spill out from her CPD baseball cap at any minute. Blue eyes scanned the hallway, ensuring Siobhan stood alone. A custom shoulder rig wrinkled the black turtleneck sweater she wore over jeans and black trainers. Siobhan remembered the huge handgun that rig contained; looking large even in the tall assassin's hands. Not that Siobhan had ever seen Isolde use it. Isolde would only ever pull the weapon if something had gone terribly wrong and she couldn't find a way to kill you from 1,000 meters away.
Isolde hid horrific scars under those full length sleeves and pants, souvenirs of service to her vampire master. Some time ago, she had decided to turn. She had not joined the ranks of the undead quite yet, but fed from them, garnering preternatural speed, strength, and toughness as a ghoul.
"Hello Is," Siobhan responded, mustering a weak smile. "She here?"
Islode nodded. "In the kitchen. Making you dinner."
Siobhan took two steps then paused. There was only one way she would know to start preparing food. Shiv looked at Isolde. "She's having me followed, isn't she?" Isolde nodded. "Jist loverly," Shiv mumbled, "Jist loverly."
The young mage had never known her seanmhathair leave Chicago without at least fifteen retainers in tow. The advance team would perform surveillance, check out local hotels, escape routes, and on this trip, track the movements of a certain twenty-something. The mission team would establish a secure perimeter around the area of operations. Agents likely occupied the apartments on either side of Siobhan's, their occupants unconscious or restrained, perhaps relieved of a pint or two. They wouldn't remember anything in the morning and discover a remarkable accounting error in their favor sometime in the near future. Shiv didn't miss vampire paranoia one bit.
Siobhan nodded to Tristan as he leaned against the wall near the kitchen. Tristan refused to turn, serving his master as a pure human. Without vitae, the fit good-looking man looked ten years older than his twin sister Isolde. Tristan would have devised the plan to surveil Siobhan as an ex-CIA spook. Jacek stood next to him. "Keeper of secrets my arse," she hissed at him as she walked by.
Just over five feet, wearing an apron over a gabardine suit, holding a spatula in one hand, Dr. Samantha Thomas did not look like the Vampire Seneschal of Chicago. She had tied her mass of black, curly hair back away from her pale face, better to avoid the fire of the gas stove. Embraced in her late twenties, Samantha looked more like an older sister than Shiv's one-hundred plus year old great-great grandmother. She smiled as Siobhan walked into the room. "The bangers are just about perfect, Shiv. Have a seat." The much younger woman stepped over to kiss her seanmhathair awkwardly on the cheek. The thick sausages looked brown and full.
Samantha sniffed. "New perfume?" Siobhan winced. Damn vampire senses. She used a team meeting as a break from her investigations. There had been that stolen moment in Siobhan's office. They had held each other tightly in a hidden corner. "Something like that," Shiv muttered as took a seat at the small table. Someone had already brewed a fresh pot of PG Tips and she helped herself to a cup. Dr. Thomas smirked.
They nattered for a few moments as Dr. Thomas finished preparing the sausages. They caught up on common friends, new kids on the Phalanx, things of little consequence. Samantha did not ask about the Tinkerbell costume knowing her great-great granddaughter's predilection for fancy dress. Finished with the sausages, Dr. Thomas took out a plate, heaped it high with mashed potatoes and bangers, and then set it in front of Siobhan. Dr. Thomas removed her apron and sat at the table. She poured herself a cup of tea. She would never drink it, Shiv mused. She couldn't drink it, but Samantha liked to keep up human appearances.
After giving her granddaughter a few minutes to eat, Dr. Thomas pulled a small piece of paper from a suit pocket. She unfolded it to reveal a seal, a lush tree surrounded by five different types of blades. Siobhan did not turn around to snap at Jacek and merely swallowed her mouthful.
"This is bad business, Siobhan," Dr. Thomas said flatly. Siobhan didn't respond, choosing to take another large bite of mash. With more than one-hundred years of practice, Samantha knew how to cook English food well. Shiv knew Samantha would get to the point in time.
Dr. Thomas pretended to take a sip of tea. "Do you remember that Verbena coven outside of Essen?" Siobhan nodded. "Aye, ah went there tae 'elp sanctify the caern a few years ago. That node sat unused fer 'ow many years?"
"Don't speak with your mouth full, poppet." Siobhan chewed carefully then swallowed.
"Did you ever wonder how a node should remain unclaimed for so long?" Shiv took a slip of tea and shook her head. "He did that," Samantha continued. "He slaughtered the original coven and salted the node some time during the First World War. The node remained tainted for some time after that."
Siobhan coughed. "Why?" she stammered.
"This man," Dr. Thomas tapped the seal, "believed the coven practiced forbidden magic. He raised his concern with the Midnighters then acted when they didn't."
"There's also some question between him and the Midnighters regarding ownership of a certain bauble, a necklace called the Betrayer's Heart."
Siobhan swallowed. "That would explain why ah dinnae find the sigil in the Club's records. They must 'ave purged it."
Shiv thought for a second as she bit into the last piece of sausage. Her grandmother had done her homework, or perhaps had a personal stake in the whole affair. "What's his name, seanmhathair?" she asked.
Samantha raised an eyebrow. "He's known as Dridorious, called Drider, now. Well at least when I met him briefly during the seventies. I can't imagine he appreciates any comparison to a Drow."
Siobhan wrinkled her forehead, nonplussed. Dr. Thomas sighed. "Really, poppet. You should try to read a book from this century, perhaps this decade, sometimes."
"I just finished War of the Worlds. It's from this century… almost."
"First published 1898, love. I hardly think so." Dr. Thomas raised the now cool cup of tea to her lips again. She knew better than to ask Siobhan not to meet Drider. Jacek had relayed the story. Shiv had a friend in danger. Shiv fancied herself a hero. She would go with or without "permission." Dr. Thomas would leave a team to watch over her, but doubted for granddaughter's safety should Drider prove troublesome. The man, the long lived creature that he was, had demolished a coven of witches. A few trusted men with machineguns wouldn't pose much of an obstacle.
She took a moment to watch Siobhan shovel the last scrap of mash into her mouth. If this creature had truly meant harm, Dr. Thomas didn't doubt Siobhan would already be dead. True bad guys didn't announce their intentions or offer neutral ground as a meeting place. Samantha suppressed the sudden urge to reach out and touch Siobhan, to hold her, talk about this new love interest the vampire smelled on her. Instead she asked, "Would you like me to come with you?"
Shiv considered for a moment. "Thank you, seanmhathair. Ah dinnae think so. Ah've faced things 'ere: Aliens, these terribly tacky vampires, evil villains. Time fer mae tae look intae this on mae own, ah reckon. Part of the problem with 'aving grandmother's skirts around is the temptation tae 'ide behind 'em." Siobhan reached out to take Samantha's cold undead hand in her own. "Ah di appreciate ye coming down tae talk tae mae personally about this."
"I do need your help on something else, though," Siobhan continued. "Do you have a personal assistant I can borrow for a few days? I'd like to loosen the strings on my purse a wee bit."
Samantha smiled. She would spend the rest of the evening listening, delighting in a life that had left her long ago.
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