=:= Richard =:=

Richard watched as Nathan and Matthew both took their seats across from him. One of their researchers, Matthew was an older man, somewhat overweight, but he had a good head for enchantments and runes.

Matthew set the two amulets down on Richard's desk. Each was sealed inside its own clear plastic case. He then shuffled his notes, before he began. "When I received these two objects, neither was enchanted..."

"I know that," Richard stated. "The collar eliminated all magic on the subject, it would have destroyed the enchantments on the amulets."

The researcher nodded, "Without the enchantments, I can't give a definitive analysis. However, based on the inscriptions and runes, I can provide an educated guess as to what they probably did. Again, it's not definitive, and I certainly wouldn't be able to re-create them... "

"Get on with it, Matthew." Richard was already growing impatient with the man's waffling.

"Right." the researcher glanced at his notes again. "I believe they were both meant to be protection charms. While worn, they would have protected the wearer from certain ills." He pointed to the amulet on the left, "I'm fairly certain this protected from physical harm, such as injuries or accidents. It wouldn't have rendered the wearer indestructible, but it would likely have reduced any damage or injury significantly."

"Enough to stop a bullet?" Nathan asked.

Matthew frowned, looking thoughtful. He finally shrugged, "Perhaps. Or it may at least have been enough to slow a bullet down, so it was non-lethal."

He cleared his throat then continued, gesturing to the amulet on the right. "This one was a little harder to decipher. The inscriptions and runes are rather unconventional. To be blunt, it's like nothing I've encountered before. Whoever came up with this has a very ah, unique take on the application of magic."

Richard interrupted, "The first amulet isn't so unusual?"

"No," Matthew shook his head. "The inscriptions and runes on that are laid out in a very predictable, traditional fashion." He cleared his throat then gestured at the second amulet again and concluded "My best guess is, this may have blocked magic. It may have protected the wearer from magical attacks."

Richard exchanged a glance with Nathan, then he looked back at Matthew. "Is there any advantage or other significance, to the unusual design?"

Matthew shook his head, "I don't think so, no." He paused to consider, then added "One way to look at it is, the first amulet was made by a traditionalist, or someone with traditional training. Perhaps the second was made by someone untrained or self-taught."

Richard nodded, then asked "What can you tell us about the subject's glyph tattoo?"

"It's a variation of a fairly standard rune," Matthew replied. "The base rune corresponds with English letter D. I was unable to find anything in the records or reference material that matched the exact glyph, but it's probably an identification or initiation mark. I'd expect his fellow cultists all probably have something similar."

"So you can't tie it to a specific Goddess or faith?" Rirchard asked.

Matthew shook his head, "As I said, the base rune is fairly standard, but that exact variant is new to us."

"Anything else?"

"No, sir." The researcher shook his head again.

"Dismissed." Richard stated.

Matthew stood up and headed for the door.

"I'd like your full report in my inbox before the end of the day, Matthew." Richard reminded the man before he left.

"Yes sir." Matthew nodded. He closed the door behind him.

Richard sighed, looking at Nathan. "So, now we know why we've had so much trouble with these cultists. They're protected from both physical and magical attack."

Nathan reached out and picked up the second amulet, frowning at it as he slowly turned it over in his hands.

"Not all of them," the UK controller pointed out. "Christopher killed the university student with magic, she wasn't protected."

"Hmm, good point." Richard considered. "Perhaps it's only their leaders who have these defences. I think it's safe to assume the blonde girl is protected, since her feline companion was. That explains the failure of the Cardiff team. And it stands to reason both priestess and vessel are similarly protected. William may well have shot the goth woman as was reported, but to no effect if she was protected from physical harm."

Nathan set the amulet back down next to the other one. "What's our next step?"

Richard replied, "We need more information. We need to identify the deity they're affiliated with. Joseph will be along momentarily, to report on his progress with our guest."

He picked up the two amulets, still in their plastic cases, and deposited them both into a drawer in his desk for now. "Still, it's progress," he commented. "Every shield has a weakness. Now we know at least some of them are protected, we can start working out ways to circumvent their defences."

Nathan nodded, "Yes sir."

A few moments later there was a knock at the door.

"Come," Richard stated.

Joseph entered, closing the door behind him. He moved to take the seat next to Nathan.

A tall, strong, imposing man, Joseph was in his early thirties. Fit, muscular, he looked almost out of place in the formal attire expected at the Brotherhood's headquarters.

"Report please, Joseph." Richard stated, skipping the smalltalk and pleasantries.

"For a man with no formal training at resisting interrogation, Mr. Jacobson is proving to be a surprisingly difficult subject." Joseph stated, in his deep but quiet baritone voice.

Richard scowled, "He's been here a week now, Joseph. Surely you've managed to get some information out of him!"

"He talks quite a lot, sir." The interrogator replied. "The problem is, most of what he says is either nonsense, or at the very least, improbable."

"Well what sort of information have you got out of him?" Richard asked. "What's he had to say about their goddess?"

Joseph replied, "He is adamant that his young blonde companion, Cindy, is a goddess, or at least, she's the vessel. And he claims that he is her 'priestess'. He insists that Cindy and the other cultists will be coming soon to rescue him. Unlikely of course, but we may want to strengthen our defences incase they do attempt some sort of assault here."

Richard scoffed at that. "The Brotherhood has stood for nearly three centuries. None of them have any hope of getting in here. And even if they did, there's nothing they can do to help him. Thanks to that collar, he'll never be 'Zoe' again. And we already know he's not the priestess and his friend isn't the vessel. What did he have to say about the two amulets he was wearing?"

Joseph sighed, "As for where he got them or who gave them to him, he has claimed they were a high-school art project, that they were souvenirs from a visit to the pyramids of Mars, and that he found them free in specially marked boxes of breakfast cereal."

He continued, "On the subject of what they do, he says he needs them to decode the secret messages in Saturday morning cartoons, they allow him to communicate telepathically with someone called Princess Luna, and they protect him from stupid questions." Joseph frowned, adding "It's possible that 'Luna' person might be a reference to a moon-goddess, but he hasn't elaborated further. As I said, he talks a great deal, but he actually says very little."

Richard rolled his eyes, "Princess Luna is a character from a children's cartoon, Joseph. Not a lunar goddess. Has he said anything about that tattoo on his wrist?"

Joseph hesitated, "He originally claimed it was placed there by Diomedes himself, and that he was working deep undercover for the Brotherhood. Then he claimed it was a birth-mark rather than a tattoo, and that it proves he's the true Empress of Mars."

Richard let out a deep, frustrated sigh. "Joseph... He's just some factory worker. How is he giving you so much trouble?"

Joseph replied, "The subject refuses to acknowledge his real name, or even that he's a man. He continues to insist that he is a 'cat girl' and that his name is Zoe. I'm wondering if he's actually delusional, and if his delusions might be helping him to resist my efforts."

"He's not delusional Joseph, he's trans," Richard sighed again. "Clearly he and the other cultists used some sort of advanced magic to allow him to appear as a woman."

Joseph considered, then asked "Should I start referring to him as Zoe then? Or as a woman?"

"No." Richard stated. "It annoys those types when we ignore their preferences, so keep it up."

He added, "We need answers, Joseph. Apply more pressure. Apply as much as you need, short of killing him. At the moment he's our only source of information, as well as potential leverage. Dismissed."

"Yes sir." Joseph nodded, then exited Richard's office.

Nathan had a thoughtful frown on his face now.

"What's on your mind, Nathan?" Richard asked.

"Well," the UK controller said slowly, "Thinking of what Matthew said about the two amulets, what the prisoner told Joseph about his friend, and what some of the eye-witnesses had to say about the incident in Canada last week."

"And?" Richard asked impatiently.

Nathan replied, "A few people claimed they saw magic. Specifically, an angry blonde teen was throwing fireballs around, or appearing and disappearing 'like magic'. The prisoner claims that his companion Cindy is a goddess. And based on what Matthew has told us, I think we can assume the two amulets were created by two different hands. One traditional, one esoteric."

After a pause, he finished "What if the prisoner wasn't lying? What if this Cindy is in fact embodying a goddess? I'm not discounting what we already suspect, that the other two, Samantha and Nicole are a priestess and vessel. I'm suggesting, perhaps we have a second deity on our hands. Two goddesses, working together."

Richard scowled "Oracle hasn't said anything about a second awakening. And outside of mythological stories, we haven't any evidence of deities working as a team. In the Brotherhood's experience, the Gods don't play nice with each other."

Nathan nodded slightly, "I understand, sir. I'm just trying to find a theory that fits the known facts."

"Far more likely that at least some of these people have been learning magic themselves, the same way we do." Richard stated. "This Cindy person may be their equivalent of one of our wizards. And if that's the case, then we can assume she's not really a teen. Her appearance has probably been altered, like our prisoner's was."

"Ah, right." Nathan agreed.

Richard thought for a few moments, "If that's the case though, I wonder if we've misjudged things. I don't believe she's a priestess or vessel, but she could actually be the group's leader. Perhaps she's the one who stumbled onto their original source of magical knowledge." He sighed. "For all we know she's been working at this for decades, assuming she really can teleport or throw fire around. She could have enlisted the other couple to perform the roles of interacting with the deity."

Nathan asked, "How do we handle that?"

"At the moment, it doesn't change anything." Richard shook his head. "We still need to know more about this deity of theirs. And we need more information from the prisoner. In the meantime, I'll update Alexander with what we know, and our latest speculations."

He added, "Dismissed, Nathan."

=:= Jessica =:=

They were all fairly quiet as they sat down together for dinner. Sam and Nikki were sitting beside each other on one side of the table, Jessica and Kara sat together across from them. And Ciara was sitting next to Jess on her other side.

It was Friday evening, eight days had passed since the attack at the high-school. It was just over a week since they'd lost Zoe, and Cindy exiled herself.

They'd received an email from the small sorceress a couple days ago. She didn't say where she was, only that she was ok but she wasn't ready to come home yet. While it was good to know Cindy was all right, it didn't do much to lift the mood here.

Sam and Nikki were both dealing with stress, worry, and grief. As the coven's leaders, Jess was sure they both felt responsible for all their fellow witches. Losing Becky then Zoe less than a week apart had been a huge shock. As had the realization that nobody was really safe, despite their expectations. The brazen attack on the high-school proved that without a doubt.

They still didn't know if Zoe was alive or dead, and that was causing everyone a lot of stress as well. As much as they hoped she was alive, there was an unspoken fear of what the Brotherhood would be doing to Zoe in that case.

Jess knew as well as the rest of them that if the Brotherhood had the catgirl as a prisoner, they'd likely be doing unspeakable things to her. They all knew what sorts of horrible magic the Brotherhood had access to. Any advantage the coven had in terms of secrets and information would be lost sooner or later.

Ciara was struggling as well. She'd grown close to Zoe, and she liked Cindy too. She still carried that plushie cat with her everywhere. Even now it was sat next to her on the dining table as she ate.

Eventually the silence around the table was broken as Kara spoke up. They looked at Nicole and asked, "Has the Goddess said anything further?"

"She says She's working on something," Nicole replied. "She isn't ready yet to share what it is. Something to address the threat."

Kara frowned, "So She hasn't really said anything helpful."

"She's working on it," Nikki said firmly. "That's all I can tell you right now."

Kara sighed, "Well it's good to know at least She hasn't abandoned us. Unlike our sorceress."

"Cindy hasn't abandoned us Kara," Jess frowned at them. "I wish you'd lay off her. She just lost one of her best friends and then her girlfriend. She needs time to deal with that."

"We're all grieving Jessica," they replied. "But we're all sticking together. All but one of us."

Nicole pointed out, "Cindy worked night and day for two weeks to create the magical protection amulet you're wearing, Kara. She may not be here with us day-in, day-out, but she does her part. She's one of us."

Jess watched her lover frown, then finally they just nodded, "You're right."

Changing the subject, Nikki said "It's almost full moon. It peaks around four in the morning on Monday, so we'll be holding our Sabbat on Sunday night. I haven't decided if it's best to keep it small, just the four of us here, or if we should invite everyone else over too. Thoughts?"

Jess suggested, "Why not make the offer, but make it optional? Ask the others if they want to come? If they do, we can do something larger. If not, then just us."

Samantha nodded, "Yeah, that sounds good."

"All right. I'll send out some emails after dinner." Nikki nodded.

"Can I watch?" Ciara asked. "I mean on Sunday night? Or do I have to hide in my room again?"

Sam and Nikki exchanged a look, then Nikki sighed. "Very well, you may watch. If you promise to stay quiet."

Ciara nodded "I'll be quiet. I promise."

=:= Llis Dôn =:=

"Why don't we send our champion?" Ceridwen asked. "They are eager to join the fight. And they were disappointed to have missed out when Cindy eliminated the last of the men sent to Canada."

Arianrhod rolled her eyes, "Kara is eager, and against a handful of our enemy they would do well. Against the Brotherhood's stronghold in London though, Kara would not stand a chance. We know from the minds of the assassin and the spy that their headquarters is base to over three score men. All of whom are highly skilled with either weaponry or magic, or both." She shook her head, "Our champion is not an army, and they cannot defeat an army."

Dôn was sitting slouched in her throne, Ceridwen was standing to her right, and Arianrhod was pacing. The three of them were in Dôn's court, arguing about the best way to defeat the enemy that threatened their survival. Unfortunately they had limited options.

They had but a handful of followers, and they'd agreed to operate quietly, without drawing attention to themselves or their people. They couldn't risk confronting the enemy themselves as that would put their vessel in danger. Meanwhile the enemy had them vastly out-numbered, had greater resources, and were far more experienced at this sort of thing.

The only advantage they had right now was they seemed to know more about their enemy than the enemy did about them.

Arianrhod knew they couldn't expect that imbalance to last much longer. Since Zoe's capture, it was only a matter of time before the Brotherhood pried the information from her. She felt their window of opportunity was closing, they had to act sooner rather than later.

"What if we sent both our champion and sorceress together?" Ceridwen suggested.

Dôn sighed. "Those two do not get along. Kara does not like or trust Cindy."

"Kara only mirrors your own feelings on that matter, sister." Arianrhod stated. "They are your champion, you brought them here to your court and you alone blessed them. You dislike Cindy, so Kara perceives the girl as a threat."

She walked around some of the standing stones as she continued, "Even if our champion and sorceress did fight side by side, I doubt they'd be victorious. They would surely deliver a damaging blow, but that is still two against sixty."

Ceridwen scowled, "And what do you suggest, sister? We ask our people to pack up, relocate and hide? Ask them to live their lives cowering in fear, hoping this foe never returns?"

Dôn added, "Or do we attempt to shield them again? Ask them to give up their ambitions and plans, collect them together in some small remote community, while we try and keep them hidden and isolated from the rest of the world? We tried that last time, and it failed. We weren't even being actively hunted then."

"No," Arianrhod replied. She stopped pacing for a moment and turned to face her sisters. "I am suggesting we wake Aer-"

Dôn interrupted with a hiss, "Do not speak her name!"

Arianrhod glared. "I am suggesting we wake our sister. She can do what the three of us cannot. She could bring this war to an end in minutes."

"Yes, and then she would want more." Dôn warned. "A few minutes of combat would never be enough to quench her thirst, Arianrhod. And when she learns of the modern weapons the mortals have developed, she will yearn to see them in action. How many more will then die, to satisfy her curiosity and slake her thirst for battle?"

Ceridwen nodded in agreement, "We all remember what happened the last time she was awake. And you know what that would do to the rest of us. And to our vessel and priestess. That is not in Nicole's nature, and it would turn Samantha against her wife and the three of us."

"I am aware of these things, my sisters." Arianrhod replied, walking around the stones and back out in front of Dôn's throne. "And I have a plan."

Dôn and Ceridwen both looked at her, questioning expressions on their faces.

Arianrhod explained, "Let us wake our sister, but separate her from us. Embody her into her own vessel. Let her have her day of fun, rid the world of this Brotherhood. Then if we must, we can eliminate her vessel ourselves and send her back to sleep."

Both Dôn and Ceridwen frowned.

Dôn commented, "That is a very risky plan. If our sister or her vessel got wind of it, either of them could put us all in jeopardy."

"I sense you already have someone in mind, sister?" Ceridwen asked. "Who would you select, to be our sister's vessel?"

Arianrhod replied, "Our sorceress. She has already proven herself capable of killing. She is currently depressed and desperate. And she may be easier to control, if we tempt her with the prospect of saving her lover."

Dôn sighed, "You are talking about deceiving and potentially sacrificing one of our own children, sister."

"I am. You know our sorceress is also a potential threat, sister." Arianrhod replied. "She has always been troublesome, and she continues to push her understanding and control of magic well beyond normal limits. And as you both know, she rarely demonstrates the proper respect towards us."

Ceridwen and Dôn both looked uncomfortable.

Arianrhod pressed, "I know you dislike her, Dôn. You always have, since her assault on Jessica. You would have killed her yourself rather than curse her, if it were in your nature to do so. Since Jessica forgave her we've been stuck with her, as have our children. You were opposed to Ceridwen's suggestion to grant her the title of sorceress."

"You agreed with me Arianrhod, you were impressed with her skill," Ceridwen reminded her. "And our sorceress has been useful to our children since then. She helped with protective wards, and with new spells. And most recently she developed their protection against magical attack, which you yourself were unable to provide."

"I am aware," Arianrhod replied. "And now I suggest we give her the opportunity to help once more. The chance to rescue her lover, to save our children, and to eliminate the threat. We can at least make her the offer. Or do you have another suggestion? An alternate solution to our Brotherhood problem? Or another way to wake our sister without paying the price she will demand?"

Dôn and Ceridwen both sighed, looking at each other.

Finally Dôn nodded, "So be it. We will offer Cindy the opportunity. If she agrees, then we will offer her to our sister."

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