“Do you think you aren’t a good fit for the officer rating?” Mrs. Dellia crosses her legs and leans forward.
Odaix shifts in her seat, fingers tapping together, “It’s just not what I thought it would be.” That’s an understatement. She imagined it would have been like being a police officer, not like being an executioner. Instead, she’s the one holding an axe she can’t bear to swing.
“What did you think it would be?” Mrs. Dellia’s voice is soft, sweet. Non-threatening.
“People weren’t supposed to die.” Odaix’s voice trembles as she forces out the words.
She stares at the other woman sitting behind a large fancy oak desk. Mrs. Dellia has her hand folded in front of her, glasses perched at the tip of her nose and the sweetest of smiles. Odaix squirms, feet tucking behind the legs of the chair and shoulders slumping forward.
It wasn’t supposed to be like this.
“I just- can’t I transfer? I don’t want to work with that…” Monster, Odaix’s mind fills. She doesn’t say the word though. It’s bitter on her tongue, a curse that she wouldn’t put on anyone.
“I’m sorry you feel that way.” Mrs. Dellia even looks sorry. Odaix fiddles with her fingers and looks down at her lap. Mrs. Dellia pauses for a moment, giving a soft hum before continuing, “But that’s why we are here. The CME tries it’s best to fit people that best suites them. Unfortunately, officer training is incredibly expensive so we are very restricted on where we can place you. What are your concerns regarding Mihr?”
Odaix pauses, shoulders holding up the world and gaze unseeing. She rubs at her thighs for a second before looking up, “Mihr is- I don’t think he’s following procedures properly. We- we’re supposed to be… I don’t know. Containing people until their trial? He kills them. No questions asked. The last two,” She bites her lip, swallowing before forcing the words out, “criminals we dealt with, he just killed them.”
“And you don’t agree with his actions.” It’s not even a question. Mrs. Dellia shifts in her chair before writing something down.
“No.” The word is a croak, and even Odaix can tell it’s the wrong thing to say.
Mrs. Dellia gives a hum before, “Unfortunately, Mihr followed the proper procedures. However, we will ask him to go a… gentler approach and to explain things better for your understanding.” It’s the last thing Odaix wants to hear. Mihr probably wouldn’t care, he’d just give her a cold glare and then do whatever, but her distaste for their procedure is bad attention.
“Meanwhile, I will put in a request for the CME to look for another position for you. I heard the experimental prison could use some more guards so that might be a possibility.”
The floor drops from beneath Odaix’s feet and all she hears is Mihr’s smooth voice saying they’ll find a way to make you useful.
“Uhm- I can- Maybe I just haven’t given it enough time.” There’s a chance Odaix misunderstood Mihr. There’s a chance, just like there was a chance that she was wrong when he said doctors kill people too. She isn’t going to take it.
Mrs. Dellia startles, giving a bright smile as she says, “Oh, are you sure? I’ll make a note of it anyways, just in case you change your mind later. Anyways, I think that will be all for today unless there’s anything else?”
Mrs. Dellia stands up as she talks, reaching over to offer her hand. Odaix forces a quivering smile before taking the psychiatrists hand. “That’s everything. Thank you for seeing me.”
Odaix leaves the cozy room with its warm light and comfy chairs and goes straight back to the office that Mihr claimed as his own a few days ago. Since then the office has been overrun with casefiles and medical books. Medical books, as if Mihr actually used them.
Sometimes she does see him use them, such as now. The boy is perched at his desk, a book open in front of him with a disarray of files around him. He doesn’t even look up at her as she enters the office, instead he just picks up one of the files and waves it at her. “Oh good, you’re back. Read this.”
He flips a page in the book as Odaix walks over to grab the file. She freezes, fingers faint over the file as she peeks at the upside down image in the book. It’s a skeletal knee, little lines pointing at each part with a scribble of words that probably explain it. “Are you-“
Mihr looks up and pushes the file closer to Odaix. “This is going to be your case. Read it. Learn it. Solve it.” With that, Mihr releases the file forcing Odaix to clutch desperately at the file to keep its contents from scattering onto the floor. Another page turns and Odaix swallows the words bubbling up in her chest.
There is no solving. Not with what Mihr does. There’s killing. Killing. Mihr expects her to kill whoever is in this case file. She looks up, watching Mihr as he simply reads about knees for whatever reason. No, she knows the reason, or a possible reason. Mihr’s limp is noticeable now, his gait swaying drastically with every step.
Odaix offers one last glance at Mihr before slinking to the other side of the office with the folder grasped tightly to her chest. She didn’t want to even look inside of the folder. To put a name and a face to the unknown criminal, victim, within her grasp. Another page turns, the soft crinkling of paper is the only sound in the quiet room.
She pauses, closes her eyes a take a breath in before staring down at the folder. Her case. Her victim. Another corpse waiting to be made. Or maybe- maybe she can prove whoever this is as innocent? Or get them sent to the prison instead? Surely the prison would be a better alternative, whatever it entailed.
Flipping open the folder she finds herself staring at a black and white portrait of a boy smothered in freckles with his hair in a bun. The bit of outfit she can see in unmistakably part of the CME uniform with a clasp dangling a rope from the boy’s color to the left. To the left of the portrait are the easy identifiable marks such as name, Aizel Thyre; age, 19; rate, Information Specialist; magic, white; type, unknown; on and on.
It’s the same file Mihr had her read a few weeks ago. The boy has been UA for over seven months, the last place he had been stationed was some research facility called Dracein and…
Odaix flips to the other side of the paper, skimming over the words. There was activity of someone using his credentials in Laqrea two weeks ago. One of the big laboratories in the city had notified the CME because he was asking odd questions regarding some group called Ashei.
She peeks over at Mihr, watching as he flips back a few pages before freezing with his hand hovering over the page as if he is debating the usefulness of whatever page he turned to. “Are we going east?” The question floats in the air. She’s never been to the far east, supposedly cars are much more common on that side of the kingdom where even some of the poorer folk have them.
“In a few days.” He’s apparently dissatisfied with whatever page it was he turned to since he flips another page. Odaix looks down at the open case in her hand, Aizel’s gray eyes stare back at her.
“Is it just for this case?” She hopes not, if it is than everything would end so much faster. She’s going to need time if she’s-
Odaix pauses, glancing back down at the boy marked for death because he went UA. The air is suffocating, smothering her with every small inhale and she waits. Just long enough for the words to stop moving and for her own picture to stop flickering in place of Aizel’s. She shuts the folder.
“Did he do any crime?” The words crawl out of her mouth without her permission. Mihr doesn’t even need to say anything for her to figure out the answer. Abandoned place of duty. She glances down at the folder before tucking it underneath one of the medical books that somehow found its way to her desk.
She thinks back to Malakai and surely, just as it was then, this is Mihr warning her not to fuck up. Simple, to the point and showing her the consequences without actually saying anything.
Mihr turns another page and then, “There’s a healer in Laqrea that’s making mages.”
Odaix blinks, “Mages?”
Mihr takes a moment as he scans whatever page he’s on before saying, “It’s a ritual where a nephlim will get Hasin to share the disease with someone and let them use it. Really, it just kills them faster.”
“Why would-“
“Because then they can use the disease like any normal nephlim could. It’s an interesting ritual, rather blatant if anyone knows what to look for.” Mihr suddenly bursts into movement, dropping the book onto his desk as scavenges through his folders before pulling out a notebook and flipping to some random page.
Odaix stretches up as if that would let her see whatever it is that Mihr is scribbling down. It doesn’t, all she can see is the top of the pen moving as his arm swallows the paper he’s writing on. She opens her mouth, a question dancing on the tip of her tongue before she freezes.
She offers one last look before slouching into her chair. Her finger traces the binding of the books stacked on her desk. It’s an odd variety, the bottom one claiming to be a Dictionary of all Toxic Plants in Latrea, followed by Basic Biology, then there’s the edge of her folder and the final book is about The Human Body Bone Structure.
They weren’t there yesterday. Actually, none of the books or folders were in the office when they got it four days ago and it certainly wasn’t Odaix that moved them into the small space.
She slides the bottom book out from underneath of the pile and thumbs through the first few pages. There are intricate drawings on every page depicting some kind of flower or plant, most of them are splashed with some sort of color and a detailed explanation on the left hand side. She pauses on one page depicting a small plant with tiny red berries.
At the bottom of the page there’s this neat scrawl saying Mimics the effect of the disease when touched. Ingested causes the mammal to seize and bleed out of multiple orifices. Autopsy shows something similar to what happened to Nicholas’ council when vast amounts of the disease was found in their bloodstream. Five berries can kill a 170 pound man within four hours when ingested.
Odaix shuts the book and slides it next to the other two. Staring at the wooden desk would be better than reading whatever Mihr wrote in a book about toxic plants. Not that it matters because a second later a girl pokes her head into the office and says, “Your presence is requested at the police station.”
There’s a pause where the only noise is pen on paper before Mihr’s pen clicks against his desk. The girl at the door gives a quick nod before vanishing into the hallway and leaving Odaix alone with Mihr. The man doesn’t even spare her a glance as he heads out the door. Odaix scrambles after him in a flurry of hurried movement.
He always just leaves. He never says anything just gets up and goes and just expects Odaix to follow blindly. Not that it’s a wrong expectation. She does just follow him blindly, even when her skin itches at not knowing. Luckily for her, it doesn’t take much to catch up with the short guy. Just a few rushed strides and she’s walking right next to him.
“Do you know why we’d be requested?”
Mihr sways, holding his left leg awkwardly straight as he walks. “Did she tell me why they requested me?”
Odaix bites her lip and curls her hands into her pockets. Neither of them are in uniform, Mihr had told her that the uniform isn’t helpful in his line of work. Their line of work. Apparently people get skittish when the CME is involved and it hinders their work. The other rates though, they are usually required to wear the uniform.
Civilian clothes are comfier either way so Odaix can’t complain too much. At least she has pockets when she isn’t in uniform.
They’re outside when Mihr says, “Someone probably turned themselves in. There’s an occasional case like that. Doesn’t happen often, usually it’s because they realized they messed up and are hoping for a more lenient sentence.”
“But it’s not like they know what the CME does.” She didn’t. Sure, there are rumors, but everything has rumors. Just because people hint at it doesn’t mean it is true, even if in this instance it is and Odaix wishes she listened.
“No, you are just ignorant.” Odaix’s lips thin into a white line at the words. Mihr doesn’t even act like he said anything. He just keeps hobbling out of the building and into the open street and straight towards the police station. Odaix follows at a much slower pace, shoulders hunching as she sulks behind the smaller man.
Noise explodes from the police station when Mihr opens the door. A phone rings somewhere inside, calm voices chatter into oblivion where Odaix isn’t able to even differentiate one voice from another. The door slides close before Odaix can grab it, leaving her outside the glass with the freezing wind whipping into her body.
Mihr’s inside, walking straight to the desk. Probably saying something or other. Probably demanding something in that soft monotone that sounds more robotic than alive. The secretary, a burly man, looks up. There’s a smile, warm and welcoming.
Odaix’s fingernails dig into her palm. She takes a second, simply watching as she forced herself to breathe deeply. On the exhale she grabs the door and follows her supposed mentor.
“-ME. I was informed that we are needed?” The burly man’s smile falls with every word Mihr says. There’s a slight cringe before he stands up and forces another smile. His eyes don’t crinkle and everything just falls flat.
“Right. Ah, and you are?” The man looks up, motioning at Odaix.
“Hi. I’m, uh- Odaix Iaoth. I’m an officer of the CME.” Odaix offers the biggest smile she could muster up. Something hopefully warm and welcoming and non-threatening. Nothing that says hey we are here to probably kill someone. You should stop us.
The man doesn’t even blink. “Credentials?”
“She’s in training. I am assuming the reason we are requested was because a nephlim turned themselves in?” Mihr’s voice rings out and Odaix finds herself flushing. Technically, she should have credentials already. She’s been out of training long enough to receive the badge dictating rate and years in the CME.
The thing is, your credentials depend on your rate and she’s been trying to jump rates ever since Mihr killed the man in the prison so many weeks ago.
The man frowns down at her, but thankfully lets it slide. “Yes. Healer, she’s locked up in the back. Didn’t want him to be in the communal area.”
“Has she caused any issues?” The secretary, probably not a secretary as Odaix stares at the man’s police uniform, opens up one of the drawers in his desk and digs around for something. He lets out a soft hum before responding to Mihr with a,
“Not really. She came in, reported an accident and was very understanding when he moved her to the cells in the back.”
“Why was she brought to a cell?” Odaix can’t even stop the words even if she wants to. Mihr gives her a quick glance and all she can hear is you are just ignorant. Maybe she is, but at the same time people shouldn’t just be brought straight to a jail cell after coming to the police because of an accident.
The burly man snorts as he leads them further into the building, “She admitted to committing a murder. I wasn’t going to just let her sit in the front.”
“Did she say where? We’ll need to inform the CME about any possible bodies that are carrying the disease in case it’s in a public area.”
The man shrugs, opening a door before motioning at Odaix and Mihr to slip inside. Odaix pauses, giving a glance toward the man before stepping inside. Her mind simply echoes a long hallway and the beeping of a machine. “She didn’t really say. I was more worried about keeping the disease away from everybody else.”
“Ah- are you-“ The girl in the cell stands up, hands dusting off her pants before twisting into themselves. “Are you the CME?”
Mihr smiles, perfectly polite and gentle. He looks like a kid, eyes crinkling in the corners and hair softly falling on his forehead and all of it is a lie. “Yes, we are just here to escort you back to our actual office before we figure out everything that happened.”
There’s an itch in Odaix’s side telling her it’s wrong. It sounds believable, truthful but when has Mihr ever been so? She remembers the body of the arsonist up in Nasei and whilst she could excuse that since he was actively attacking or whatever his magic was doing, there was also Jaquin. She wants to believe, she wants to trust.
“Yes! That’s, um. So, the thing is. I might have over reacted? Or- I panicked.” The woman wrings her hands together as she cringes. Odaix takes a step forward as Mihr tilts towards the guard.
“Is there anything you need from us?” His voice is silky soft. He’s probably still smiling and giving off that unthreatening innocent aura of his.
“What did you do?” Odaix keeps her voice low as she creeps closer to the cell. The guard still has the key, it jangles behind her as he moves it around, so it isn’t like she can unlock the cage. The woman, healer, just blinks at Odaix for a second before jerking forward.
“No, we didn’t put her in the system. She told us flat out that she was a nephlim so I contacted you as soon as we got her away from the general populace.” The man’s voice booms in the background in contrast to the nervous jitter of the woman in front of Odaix.
“It’s not- It wasn’t supposed to be bad. I just- I can’t afford one of those medical licenses, you know? And- and he was dying anyways. He’d just die slower if I hadn’t done anything. I could have,” The woman’s knuckles go white as she clutches her hands together, bracing them in front of her as if they were a shield. “I could have saved a life.”
Mihr steps closer, the click of his boots on the concrete floor echoing in the small room. He reaches for the door with quick, sure movements. The key jangles from his grasp as he unlocks the door. “Please take a step back.”
Odaix takes a quick step back without thinking as the woman also steps away from the bars of the cell. The door swings open with a harsh squeak and Mihr motions for the other healer to follow. “I am going to need you to show me where the incident happened, so I hope you will continue to cooperate and there will be no issues.”
The woman jerks her head in an awkward nod before spouting, “Yes- I. I can do that. It’s just… Not exactly neat and-“
Mihr’s already turning to leave, handing the keys over to the guard as he says, “Thank you for notifying us. I will have the CME send a leech over to prevent any outbreaks from occurring thanks to this incident.”
“Why would he have died anyways?” The woman turns, her gaze dragging away from Mihr to land on Odaix. Really, she looks so young. Wide green eyes and ruffled black hair. Her makeup is a tad smeared and her clothes mussed up but obviously new.
“He was poor.” She says it like that explains everything. It doesn’t, but maybe Odaix just isn’t thinking the correct way to see the answer. After all, she’s apparently ignorant anyways. Who knows what she’s missing.
“I don’t-“
“Hospitals are expensive and his heart was failing.” The woman’s eyes are wide and desperate. Begging for something, Odaix didn’t know what. Not to die? Did the lady even know what the CME did? What was most likely going to happen?
“Come along now, I need to lock up the space now.” The guard, policeman, whatever he is waves towards the door. Mihr’s already gone, vanishing somewhere into the depths of the small police station. The woman startles, eyes snapping to the man before giving a rushed nod.
Odaix raises a hand, debating on offering some kind of comfort, any kind of comfort. Not that the other girl seems to notice, instead she’s taking broken steps out of the room and following the ghost trail of Mihr. Which might have been a good thing, Odaix can’t help but remember that the woman is a healer. Just like Mihr is a healer.
Mihr’s waiting in the front portion of the building with his hands clasped in front of him. He cocks his head to the side as the woman and Odaix stop in front of him. “I will need you to lead the way to where the incident happened, miss…?”
“Oh! Evie. Are you, are you sure you need to go to where it happened? It’s just-“
Mihr smiles, raises a hand to gesture for Evie to lead the way as he says, “Yes. We need to make sure that it will not cause an outbreak to happen in the neighborhood.”
Evie shifts her gaze over to Odaix before giving another jerky nod.
The place Evie leads them to is a small alleyway a few blocks from the police station. The alley itself doesn’t look suspicious, a large dumpster on one side but otherwise entirely inconspicuous until Evie open up one of the doors and it leads to a stairwell. Mihr doesn’t even hesitate to follow Evie down the dark, murky hole but Odaix finds herself faltering to take the first step.
It’s.
Well, it’s dark. The stairs look stained and there’s not even a hint of light at the bottom. The ceiling caves in after the first step and whilst Odaix wasn’t tall she doesn’t like the ceiling being so short. At the same time, she doesn’t trust Mihr being alone with the woman either. Silly, to be distrustful of her partner rather than the self-proclaimed murderer.
Then again, she hasn’t seen Evie kill. Mihr has killed on multiple occasions and it seems to literally be his job. His only job. Her only job.
She takes a step forward and follows.
There’s an eerie echo with every step, something that bounces off the walls over and over until one noise is indistinguishable to the next. Odaix actually loses the other two, their shadows blending with all of the other shadows of the darkened stairwell.
There’s a pause, an unsettling silence and then a sharp creaking noise as the hallway is flooded with a dim light.
“Well, this- this is it. Home sweet home.” Evie’s voice is mutilated by the echoes; almost demonic in how it sounds. There’s a hum and then the shadows in front of the light shift, a few steps and-
Odaix rushes, skipping past one of the steps to stumble into the room before the door fell shut. Inside it’s quaint. There’s a few demolished couches splayed about, a lawn chair on the far side and then there’s a table that teeters on three legs, the fourth snapped off before it hit the ground.
There’s a man in the lawn chair, and a couple sprawled across one of the couches. The couple just lazily look up, giving a smile before freezing at the sight of Odaix and Mihr. “Found more strays, Evie? You’ve barely been gone two hours.”
The boy part of the duo smacks the girl’s arm, hissing something at her that caused laughter to erupt from her. Evie simply flails a hand in the air before saying, “Well. They aren’t-. It’s just. He’s dead.”
Suddenly the couple is quiet, their eyes trained on the trio in front of the door. Mihr’s already taking a step closer to the man in the lawn chair.
“Evie, what did you do?” It’s the boy talking this time. He stands up from the couch and takes a step forward. Odaix swallows before announcing,
“We are with the CME and are here to investigate the murder of-“ Her voice dies in her throat as Mihr turns around to send a nasty glare her way. Odaix’s entire body seems to shrivel up and decay at that exact second, her voice giving one last croak in her throat before it buried itself in its living grave.
The couple freezes, eyes wide as they watch the trio. Evie’s entire body seems to tense and fold into itself. Mihr gave a small huff before continuing to make his way to the man in the chair. What is most definitely a body in the chair since the man hasn’t made a single move since they got there.
“Look, whatever Evie did we had no part in it.” It’s the girl’s clipped voice echoing in the space. She’s tugging at the boy, a wary gaze flickering between Mihr and Odaix. Evie simply flinches, her shoulders crawling closer to her knees as she caves into herself.
“When we get back we’ll need to contact the police station to deal with the deceased.” Mihr doesn’t even spend a minute with the man, simply checking his pulse heading back. “I’m curious to what you were trying to do, Miss Evie.”
“He was-“ Evie starts, her head jerking up to stare at the smaller man. Mihr is still giving a soft smile as he opens the door and gestures for Evie to lead the way. The couple is still frozen on the couch and Odaix just stands there trying to figure out what she is even supposed to do.
It’s technically a crime scene. They are supposed to contact the police, but Mihr already said they’d do that. The couple is technically possible witnesses to the crime but at the same time, Evie already confessed. The woman isn’t even arguing, simply shuffling out of the door and leading Mihr away from the body.
“We aren’t- We weren’t involved in any of that. You guys know that, right?” The boy is timid in his words, falling back onto the couch to watch with wide eyes.
Odaix opens her mouth, to say what she doesn’t know but-
“Odaix.” Mihr stands at the open door, pale gaze fixating on Odaix when she startles. Mihr waits for a second before dipping out and Odaix finds herself following him like a lost pup. She offers one last glance at the tense couple on the couch before the door slides shut and she’s once again in the dark stairwell leading up to the alley.
She doesn’t pause this time, rushing up the stairs as if her own personal demon is haunting her footsteps. That’s a lie, her own personal demon is in front of her. Mihr reaches out as soon as Odaix is at the top of the stairs. Just this soft touch of the hand to get Evie to pause as he says, “If you could, please wait a minute.”
Evie just nods, her entire body a tense line. Mihr drops his hand, and oh Odaix knows what’s happening. What has already happened. It’s downright homicide. There’s nothing else to it, and the kicker is that Evie knows nothing about it. It’s just a simple gesture after all.
It’s a gesture Evie herself could make, after all she is also a healer. Same magic type, just she doesn’t know that Mihr is also a healer. She doesn’t know Mihr is also a killer.
“Did he find you?” Odaix closes the door behind her as Mihr talks to his victim.
“Not- not exactly? I mean, he heard. He was originally trying to get a heart transplant, but then the hospital told him how expensive the procedure would be and- I had books depicting how to do it. It shouldn’t have been that hard.”
“You were trying to do a heart transplant?” Odaix blurts out the words as she freezes. That entire thing- what, Evie dealt in black-market transplants?
“No!” Evie waves her hands in the air as if she could dismiss the words. “No. Of course not, I was just- He had a tumor, and I thought if I could change the cell type or whatever I could make his heart normal to where I wouldn’t need a transplant.”
“A transplant would have been easier than that.” Mihr cocks his head to the side before fixing his gaze on Odaix.
“Was-“ There’s a pause, Evie’s voice dying in her throat before she clears it and tries again, “Was there a reason we needed to wait?”
“Oh.” Mihr gives the softest smile, not even glancing at Evie as he says, “I just wanted to teach Odaix something.”
Odaix wishes she could be anywhere but in that alleyway with Mihr. Anywhere else, where there isn’t a ticking time bomb on someone’s life. She isn’t able to stop it, not with Mihr’s magic, not with it apparently being legal. She can’t even change it. Evie’s fate was decided the second Mihr touched her arm.
“What could you teach her here?” Evie’s voice breaks at the end and she gives a small cough at the end.
“That you are either stupid or that you would have been caught because of this one’s death.” Mihr gives a slight shrug before turning around and heading out of the alley. ‘Well, let’s get everything settled back at the office.”
Odaix opens her mouth, but Evie beats her to it, “How would- That doesn’t make sense.” Evie reaches out to grab at Mihr but the smaller boy ducks to the side before spitting out,
“Don’t touch me.” There’s no smile, his entire façade a frozen wall and the words icicles that threaten overhead. Evie jerks away before turning towards Odaix as if Odaix has any answers.
Honestly, Odaix is as lost as Evie. Why Evie trying to remove a tumor versus doing a transplant made her either stupid or-
There’s the books that litter Mihr’s desk, all about how the knee functions, the leg bones and muscles. There’s the limp that comes and goes at varying degrees. There’s Mihr saying magic can only do so much. Suddenly, she wonders why someone would jump to trying to fix someone’s heart versus plain old replacing it.
She wonders what they’d need to do to even get right in the first place.
It’s jumping conclusions, Odaix knows that, but that’s the only thing she could think Mihr would be wanting her to guess at.
“Let’s just go, please.” Odaix tries for a smile, gesturing Evie to follow Mihr despite the man’s sudden cold exterior.
“It was an accident. Honestly- I didn’t know.” Evie tries again and again over the journey. Her voice breaking more and more the further they got. Her eyes desperately wide as her entire body tenses and tenses. “I was just trying to help.”
By the time they arrive back at the CME office, Odaix is entirely numb. Her thoughts circling back and forth and freezing at every little cough Evie releases. Evie is dying, Odaix knew that the second Mihr touched her. That’s all Mihr seems to do when he touches people. She’s dying, and she’s dying because she killed at least one person.
Probably more. Or, she had to test things out on something. If Mihr couldn’t get away from experimenting with his abilities there’s no way Evie could. Mihr is…
He’s…
Something. Dangerous. Cold. A sociopath. The ones they learned about in one of her classes when they were going over the psychology of criminals. Evie on the other hand, she panicked. She went to the police when the victim died. Why would she go to the police?
To lessen the consequence. That’s what Mihr said, and it’d make sense. If you report yourself, if it’s accidental get by with a bit more. They don’t charge doctors for homicide when they lose a patient, but Evie also isn’t a doctor. She’s working an underground black-market for… healing? Not transplants, she didn’t do a transplant to the victim.
Evie doesn’t fight thought, she just follows willingly. Her entire body trembling and she stumbles frequently, but she doesn’t even try to run. Inside of their office building Mihr takes a left instead of a right, heading to an area of the building Odaix has never been in before.
Mihr seems to pick a door at random, opening it up with one swift movement before gesturing inside, “If you could, please wait inside whilst I get the required paperwork. Odaix, please keep Miss Evie company.” He doesn’t wait for Odaix to nod before departing.
Evie hovers in the doorway for a second before sliding into the room and Odaix follows in pursuit. The room itself is empty. Cold. Nothing like the office they have on the other side of the building. There’s a steel table in the middle of the room, bracketed by four uncomfortable looking chairs.
Evie doesn’t even hesitate before dropping into one of them. “How,” Evie’s voice warbles for a second and she clears her throat before continuing, “How long have you been doing this?”
“Somewhere around a month. I’m not-“ Odaix flutters above one of the chairs, debating on if she could sit or if she had to stand. Her feet ached after walking for so long, but at the same time she doesn’t know if she’s allowed to. “I’m not really an officer.” She thought she was, when she first completed the training. Then she ended up apprenticed under Mihr and Jaquin happened and-
Reality started setting in quite quickly after that. Odaix is simply a child playing police, rather horribly at that.
“Oh, and… him?” Evie leans against the table, shoulders hunched and eyes big as her hands cradled her temples.
“Are you okay?” It’s a waste of a question. Odaix knows Evie isn’t okay. Evie might not know, but-
“I’m fine.” Another cough wracks Evie’s body as she lifts one of her hands to wave off the query. “I just, I got a bit of a headache.”
Odaix sits down in the chair opposite of Evie, choking on the words that would tell Evie that she is dying. Would that be kindness, to let someone know? Or would it be cruelty since there is nothing Evie could do to stop it? Given, Evie is also a healer, but surely Mihr would have put that in consideration.
“Have you ever healed somebody before?” Evie seems surprised at the inquiry, her head jerking up as she squints at Odaix.
“Of course I have. I wouldn’t- Look, I might not have the stupid medical license, but I have magic.”
“Does the disease really make that big of a difference?” Odaix thinks back at the books Mihr reads day in and day out. Even before the disease wrecked the kingdom there were back alley doctors doing shady deals. Black market organ deals had to happen somehow. Odaix isn’t entirely ignorant no matter what Mihr might say.
Evie even smiles, her face partially lighting up. There’s an odd twitch on her cheek though, part of her smile sloping into an unnatural frown. “Yes. It’s- It’s wondrous. You can do so much, you don’t even need to open up the body. I’ve rebuilt hands before. Eyes when someone got a pencil stabbed through their eye. You can do so much.”
It sounds amazing. Wonderful. Magical. Then you have Mihr’s limp. Then you have the doctors telling him that’s what fucked up your knee to begin with. There’s always a but.
Enlist in the CME and become an officer, but kill people heartlessly. But watch people die in front of you without moving a muscle. She could say something, but is there anything that can actually be done? Odaix laces her fingers together and drop her hands to her lap.
She doesn’t dare to look at Evie who is secretly crumbling on the inside. Dying. Withering away. Mihr’s magic, his disease, is wreaking havoc on Evie’s body without her knowledge. It’s even worse that Odaix knows about it.
Ignorance is bliss.
Mihr might call her ignorant, but is she really? If she is, she wouldn’t be sitting in front of a dying woman.
“So you run as an illegal healer?” Odaix’s heart isn’t in the words, but Evie freezes anyways. Her entire face falls and she closes her eyes.
“I help people when the hospitals won’t.”
Mihr strides into the room before Odaix can figure out a response. He drops a pile of papers right in front of Odaix, the top page so very similar to every other case file. The very bottom has a stamp in bold red letters; SENTENCED TO DEATH. Odaix flips the page over before Evie could try to get a curious peek at it.
“Has anyone else died under your care?” Mihr gracefully sits next to Odaix, his hands folded on the table.
“No!” Evie jerks away from the table before erupting into a small coughing fit. A sharp inhale and she drags herself closer to the table, looking up at them as she repeats, “No. I- I never do anything dangerous enough for that.”
“Messing with the heart is pretty dangerous.” Mihr glances away and grabs the folder. “Actually, I think you’ve done a bit more than that. There have been three people in the past month that died with organ failure. The last one was found within a day of death so that a tracker was able to trace a bit of the disease from it.”
He pulls out three pieces of paper from the file and drops them on the table. There’s a small image in the upper left corner of each document. Odaix tries to read the words upside down to no avail. Evie simply stares at the papers before jerking her head up to watch Mihr.
“If I did that, I wouldn’t have turned myself in. I- I couldn’t have done that.” Her voice trembles, breaking apart and shattering. She keeps glancing at the papers.
“Unless you were hoping we wouldn’t attach you to those murders.” Mihr offers a slight shrug before giving a sweet smile, “It doesn’t really matter if you did kill them or not. Either way, you confessed to murder already and are running illegal medical procedures. As a healer type, the punishment will remain the same.”
He taps at one of the papers when Evie watches in stifled silence. “It would be nice to have confirmation for these three victims. We might be able to trace your magic on one of the vics, but the other two will be left unanswered for .”
“I didn’t do it. I didn’t- I don’t kill people.” Evie chokes out, her shoulders hunching in even further as she stares at the papers in front of her.
“Well,” Mihr starts collecting the documents and organizes them inside the folder again. “that’s a shame that you admitted to killing someone already. Unfortunately, the CME does not have rooms for law-breaking nephlims so I hope you won’t mind having to stay in here for an undetermined amount of time as we get things in order.”
Evie barely nods, her entire frame trembling as she stares at the metal table. Odaix offers a glance, mouth opening before Mihr adds, “Odaix, please come with me.”
Mihr doesn’t even look at her as he pushes out the order. He gives the folder a tap against the table and then leaves. Odaix does what she has been doing since she first saw Mihr and she simply follows him. The door closes with a soft click and suddenly it seems like Evie’s fate has just been sealed.
A glance through the window and Evie is still cowering over the table with her unseeing gaze glued onto the steel surface.
“Do you actually think she killed those people?” Odaix wishes she actually read the file. That she didn’t just glance at it before hiding from the fate of the woman locked in the room behind them.
“She was either experimenting with getting rid of tumors, or she was stupid and decided to test it on the man we saw before. Either way, she made our lives easier by ratting herself out.” He doesn’t wait for her as he walks away, forcing Odaix to rush to catch his soft words.
“Why would the consequence be the same because of her type of magic?” Odaix probably already knows the answer. It’s probably a stupid question, but Mihr was actually being forthright and honest instead of changing the subject. She couldn’t help but release the question and-
“Would you be willing to put someone with my abilities in a prison where they can have contact with other people?” He answers like it is obvious. There’s not even a second of hesitation.
“They could put her in isolation or…” Odaix trails off, unsure of other things to offer because-
No. No she wouldn’t go anywhere close to someone with Mihr’s ability in any other situation. She doesn’t want to be anywhere near Mihr now. And isolation, they’d just have to be so careful. Any bit of skin and it’s a life risk. But at the same time, “Is she going to die?”
Odaix’s voice is this pathetic whisper and she hates herself a bit for it. She knows Evie is going to die. She knew the second they went to that stupid cell. She knew the second Mihr touched her.
Mihr pauses and stares at her with his unblinking pale eyes. “Have you ever heard of botulism?”
Odaix squints at him but shakes her head, unsure where this was even going.
“It’s quite interesting. I’ve figured out how to mimic most of its effects, but I got a few of them wrong. I figured- If she survives? The Godlings deemed her undeserving, that maybe she really was a good person all along and it was simply an accident. But if she dies?”
Odaix stands frozen in the hallway as Mihr tilts his head to the side before giving a sickeningly sweet smile,
“If she dies, then she didn’t deserve the chance at life to begin with.”
