Colton led Valen elsewhere in the manor to wait while he ‘made some preparations.’

The blind necromancer pulled open a wooden door while Valen stood behind him trying to think of what to do next. A blast of heat blew from the room into their faces, warming the cold night air around them. Valen had to wonder if Colton even had the ability to feel heat anymore after becoming a lich.

“Go on in, Mister Vasilis,” said Colton with a smile that was a few inches too wide for comfort. “I’ll be right with you in a moment.”

“Much obliged, sir,” said Valen, though he could not feel the words leave his mouth.

On the other side of the room was a small but tasteful lounge. The decor was similar to what adorned Colton’s study, following the same black and silver colour scheme that the Silver Star Society seemed to have a thing for.

Enid, Louise, and Johan were all sitting on black velvet couches on either side of a coffee table that held a tea set with a nearly empty plate of biscuits. Good, wholesome, non-magical orange fire crackled in a fireplace next to them.

Louise and Enid stood up the moment Valen stepped in. Johan very carefully eased himself off the couch.

“Valen!” Louise leapt onto him, wrapping her furry white arms just a little above his waist in a tight hug. “You’re alright!”

“Sorry if I worried you.” Valen patted her back with one hand while the other quietly pulled the door close behind him. “Are you three okay?”

“We should be the one asking you that.” Enid walked up to him and cupped his cheeks around her dainty hands, pulling his face down to examine it. “Are you sure everything’s healed? No internal bleeding or broken bones?”

“I’m good as new.” Valen gently touched the back of her hand. “Drinking your blood has done wonders for my healing factor.”

Johan rubbed the back of his head, his gaze turned downwards but stealing occasional glances at Valen.

“So, um, Enid and Louise caught me up with everything,” he said. “The Unborn God…they exist?”

Valen allowed his hypersensitive hearing to take over. He could hear Colton laughing quietly to himself out in the hallway and didn’t answer Johan’s question until he was a decent distance away.

“Yes, they exist,” he told him. “Also, you do realise your boss is completely mad, right?’

“Yeah…” Johan’s shoulders slumped. “...yeah…”

“You could’ve at least told me that he was a lich beforehand.”

“Huh. So that was his deal.” Enid put a hand on her hip. “I thought there was something strange about his magic.”

“A what now?” Louise asked, tilting her head.

“An immortal, undead practitioner of the dark arts.” Johan climbed back up on his couch. “Honestly I didn’t think you’d believe me if I told you.”

“I suppose that’s fair.” Valen sighed and went to sit down on the black velvet couch opposite to Johan. “I didn’t think you’d believe me about the Unborn God stuff either.”

Louise vaulted over the couch to sit to Valen’s left. Enid plopped down on his right, her shoulder pressing against his.

“So what did the big boss lich say?” Enid asked.

“He seems willing to help,” said Valen. “Perhaps a bit too willing, actually. He seemed quite excited to throw hands with a god.”

“Ancient gods, mutant paladins, undead wizards…” Louise flipped herself over on the couch, dangling her legs off the sides while leaning her back against Valen’s left shoulder. “You know, my life’s gotten a whole lot more interesting since you’ve re-joined it, Valen.”

“Sorry about that,” said Valen, feeling guilty again for dragging his friends into an ancient conspiracy over some stupid paper he’ll have to re-write now anyways.

“Don’t be!” Louise let her back slip past his shoulder and laid her messy-haired head on his lap, looking up at him with a wry smile. “I’m just glad to be helping you out after all you’ve done for me.”

Louise stretched and made her head comfortable on Valen’s lap, rolling over to one side so that she was facing the tea set on the coffee table. 

It was a familiar feeling for both of them.

Valen rested a gentle hand on her shoulder, remembering the times when they would be in that exact same position when they were younger. Louise was illiterate back then, so he would often read the required material from his language arts class or whichever book he had rented from the library that week aloud to her. 

Occasionally she’d add in a snide comment or two about the characters in the story. A lot of the time she’d fall asleep halfway through, but he would keep reading aloud anyways hoping that her subconscious could still absorb what he was saying. When she inevitably woke up near the end of the story she’d always insist that she was awake the whole time and he’d pretend to believe her.

Valen eventually taught her to read for herself with the help of comic books, but he’d be lying if he said he didn’t miss having Louise nap on his lap while he read her stories.

Enid casted a narrow sideways glance at Louise. Then, she licked her own index finger before promptly shoving it into Louise’s ear.

“Oy!” Louise scrambled back upright on the couch, startled by the sudden wet noogie in her ear. “What the hell is your problem Thunder Tits?!”

“Valen’s had a long night.” Enid picked a tea cup up from the coffee table and took a sip. “He can’t drink tea with you laying on his lap.”

“You could’ve just said that, you arse!” Louise leaned back on the couch with folded arms and looked down at the tea set. “There are only three cups though.”

“It’s fine,” said Valen. “I think I’ll just have some of the biscuits.”

“I mean, if you don’t mind taking it a bit bitter you can drink from my cup,” said Louise. “I’ve already had my fill.”

“Isn’t that a bit unsanitary?” Valen asked.

Louise rolled her eyes. “Valen, I think we’re quite past the point of being worried about indirect kisses. I mean, your tongue’s already been inside me.”

Johan choked on a gulp of tea he was in the middle of swallowing and started coughing into his hand trying to get all the tea out of his lungs.

“Holy shit Louise!” he said in between coughs. “You can’t just say that out loud!”

Enid had a single cough that she kept inside her mouth before exhaling through her lungs.

“So you two did date.” Enid set her teacup back down on its saucer. “And here I thought I already knew all your girlfriends.”

“It was a casual thing.” Valen nervously twirled his finger around his black ponytail, his face reddening. “We were young and wanted to experiment, you know?”

“Wait, hold up,” said Louise. “What do you mean by girlfriends?”

“He started dating during university.” Enid locked eyes with Louise, their blue and gold eyes glaring daggers at each other. “His last girlfriend was a nice, smart succubus girl with a lot of class unlike a certain someone.”

Louise rested an elbow on Valen’s left shoulder and leaned towards Enid. “You talking about yourself, Thunder Tits?”

Enid put a hand on Valen’s right shoulder and brought her face down Louise’s level, her gaze unwavering. “Have another guess, Snowball.”

Johan looked at Louise and Enid staring each other down, their faces inches away from each other with a terrified Valen sitting still as a statue between them.

“...Should I give you three some alone time?” Johan asked.

“Please don’t,” said Valen. “I want to live.”

“Aw, no need to worry.” Louise pulled back from her staring contest to pinch him on the cheek. “I wouldn’t bite you…unless that’s what you want me to do.”

“Hmph.” Enid settled back on the couch and nestled close to Valen’s right arm. “Anyways, Valen, what do you think of Colton? Can they be trusted?”

“I trust that he’ll help us in fighting the Unborn God,” said Valen. “I don’t trust that he’ll care about our safety in doing so. He seems to have some personal grudge with the gods themselves and isn’t picky about which one he gets to kill.”

“Colton’s a decent bloke,” said Johan. “But, yeah, he’s got a few screws loose. It’s probably his age.”

“We can’t trust him,” said Louise. “I can’t sense magic or whatever but I can just tell. He’d let us die without a second thought if it means he gets to smoke a god. That guy oozes with killing intent.”

“Well I can sense magic,” said Enid, “and trust me, we want that guy on our side. He’s stupid powerful.”

Valen nodded in agreement.

“I have to agree with Enid on this one, but…” Valen looked at Louise. “What was that about killing intent?”

“Oh yeah.” Louise scratched the back of her head. “I forgot you guys can’t sense that.”

Johan tilted his head. “Sense what?”

“Killing intent,” said Louise. “It’s something that some werebeasts can learn to sense. Like a sixth sense of sorts.”

“How does it work?” asked Enid with a hint of genuine curiosity in her voice.

“How do I explain this…” Louise tapped her chin in thought. “It’s like…you’re able to sense when someone wants to hurt or kill you just as they’re about to go through with it so you can avoid it. I don’t know the science or magic behind it but it’s saved my arse plenty of times.”

“I’ve never heard of it before,” said Johan. “And I know a lot of werebeasts.”

“The ability to sense killing intent is both something you have to be born with and a skill you have to learn,” said Louise. “For those who were born with it but don’t regularly go around picking fights like I do they might never get a chance to feel it. Hell, even if you do go around fighting everything while having it, the sense won’t sharpen beyond a small sinking feeling if you don’t learn to actually listen to it. I’m sure there are probably more than a few werebeast brawlers who have it but don’t develop it in favour of pure strength. Being my size, I had to hone it by necessity to punch above my weight.”

“Does it feel like a chill at the back of your skull?” Valen blurted out before he could stop himself.

“What?” Louise looked at him like he had three heads.

“Um, nevermind,” said Valen. “Just a passing thought.”

“No, you’re right,” said Louise, sounding both confused and curious. “It’s exactly like that. A chill in the back of my skull warning me of danger. It almost felt like I was having a brain freeze when Colton first saw us and Johan had to talk him down. How…how do you know that?”

Valen furrowed his brow. “I’ve been having this weird chill in the back of my head ever since that night in the club with Clarence. I’ve been feeling it right before unexpected attacks as of late.”

“You can sense killing intent?!” Louise narrowed her eyes at Valen. “Do you have werebeast blood in you too?”

“Not that I know of,” said Valen. “Besides, if I really was a hybrid I’d probably have more noticeable werewolf features.”

Most of the time when multiple races have children, the child is born fully one of the races of one parent. While hybrids between multiple races did exist, they were rare with only one in tens of thousands being born every century or so.

“That might not be it.” Enid paused for a moment before turning to Johan. “Johan, do you happen to have a pen and paper on you?”

“I have a pen.” Johan reached into his tweed suit and handed it to Enid. “No paper though. Why?”

“I want to test something out.” Enid took out her black leather designer wallet and opened it, revealing stacks of cash and at least half a dozen useless receipts stacked next to each other.

“You really should learn to clear your wallet more often,” said Valen.

“I was getting to it.” Enid pulled out two receipts from her wallet and set it on the coffee table. She used the pen to draw a complicated alchemical symbol on the back of one of the receipts.

“What are you doing?” Louise asked.

“Testing something out.” Enid handed the receipt with the glyph on it to Valen. “Take a look at this.”

“Okay?” Valen did as she said, studying the long penned diagram that took up the entire length of the receipt. 

He’d seen that symbol before but never paid much mind to it. ‘The Tree of Life’, he remembered it being called, was composed of many lines connected to rune-marked circles that all formed a single hexagonal shape. It was supposed to be a symbol of reverence among alchemists that represented the alchemical process, though how it did so he had no idea.

“Got a good look yet?” Enid asked.

“I guess,” said Valen. “It’s the Tree of Life, right?”

“Correct.” Enid took the scribbled receipt from him before handing him the other receipt and pen. “Now draw it from memory.”

“Enid, I may be an artist but I don’t have a photographic memory.” Valen rubbed the back of his head. “Besides, what does this have to do with anything?”

“Yeah, I’m not getting this either,” said Louise. “What does this have to do with his killing sense?”

“We’ll find out after he draws this thing,” said Enid bluntly.

Valen didn’t really know how having him fail at drawing an alchemical symbol would help her figure anything out but decided to go along with it anyway.

“Well, I guess it can’t hurt to try.” Valen put the receipt on the coffee table and hovered the pen over the blank receipt, racking his mind to remember the complicated shape of the symbol he’d only seen for a few seconds.

The moment the tip of the pen touched the paper, he found his hand moving almost on its own making straight lines and perfect circles that linked to each other with mathematical precision. By the end it was an almost perfect replica of the tree of life Enid made with only a few askew lines to betray his inexperienced hand.

“Whoa.” Louise stared at the near perfect Tree of Life Valen had drawn. “You did a pretty damn good job.”

“I didn’t think I could do it either.” Valen turned to Enid, whose eyes were already closed as her mind pondered something only known to her. “What was this about, Enid?”

“...So that’s what it is,” she muttered under her breath.

“What do you mean?” Johan asked, confused by the whole display.

“Valen drank Snowball’s blood a little before we went hunting for Clarence,” said Enid. “And he drank my blood just yesterday.”

“Where are you going with this?” asked Louise.

Valen was beginning to understand what Enid was implying and waited for her to explain it herself.

“He must’ve gotten that killing sense of yours after drinking your blood,” said Enid, “and gained my muscle memory to draw the tree of life after drinking mine.”

“Is something like that even possible?” Johan asked.

“I’ve never heard of anything like that,” said Valen. “And it seems like something that would be common knowledge if vampires were capable of it.”

“But you definitely have royal blood that allows the Unborn God to talk to you, right?” said Louise. “Maybe this is a side-effect of having royal blood too?”

“That’s what I was thinking,” said Enid. “You’re smarter than you seem, Snowball.”

Louise looked at Enid with bewildered eyes. “...Did…did you compliment me?”

Enid grimaced and furrowed her brow. She looked as if she’d just realised what she said and didn’t like the way the words tasted in her mouth.

“Don’t get used to it,” she said before taking another sip of tea to wash the taste of the words out.

“Aw!” Louise pushed against Valen’s shoulder to get a little closer to Enid. “Are my charms finally melting the ice queen?”

“You do realise I’m technically your boss now, right?” said Enid bluntly.

“Wait, time out!” said Johan. “When the hell did that happen?!”

“Oh, yeah.” Louise leaned back on her seat while holding the back of her head. “I quit my old job to be her chauffeur.”

“Don’t make me regret it,” said Enid. “I’m going to have to make modifications on the driver’s seat to accommodate your short arse.”

“Matters for later,” Valen interjected before any more buttons could be pushed. “Johan, does this place have a library or something where we can do research?”

“It does,” said Johan. “No one’s been there since forever though.”

“We should pay it a visit sometime,” said Valen. “It might give us some useful information about the Unborn God or vampire royalty.”

“Good idea. We can check it out as soon as Colton comes back with his plans.”

“What do you think he’s plotting?” Enid asked.

“I have no idea,” said Valen. “But if he really was around the same time the gods were then he probably has a better idea how to fight one of them than we do.”

“Ten dracos says he’s jacking off to the thought of killing a god,” said Louise.

A chorus of groans erupted around her.

Valen cringed. “Please don’t put that image in my head.”

“It would’ve cost you zero dracos to not say that,” said Enid.

“...It does sound like something he’d do though,” muttered Johan under his breath.

“He’s basically a walking corpse though,” said Valen, overthinking things more than he really should. “Can he even…?”

“Aaand that’s enough of that train of thought.” Enid picked up a strawberry jam sandwich biscuit from the snack plate and poked it against Valen’s lips. “These are your favourite, right?”

“Yeah.” Valen softly nipped the biscuit from her hand and sucked it into his mouth.

“Want some tea to go with that too?” Louise picked up her half full teacup and pushed her shoulder against Valen’s.

“Dude.” Johan stared at the three of them with a blank look on his face. “Teach me.”

“Teach you what?” Valen asked through a mouthful of biscuits before washing it down with Louise’s tea.

“Nevermind.” Johan sighed. “It probably won’t work on guys anyways.”

“What are you-” Valen froze up before he could finish. 

Enid froze up too, both of them able to sense a cloud of dark magic walking towards them.

“Colton’s coming,” said Enid.

The door opened a few seconds later to reveal Colton standing in the hallway with a smile on his corpse-like face.

“Everything’s been settled.” Colton. “I’ve made calls to all active members of the Silver Star Society in Dragon’s Rest. A few of them will need some convincing but I’ll deal with them.”

“‘Deal with them?’” Valen asked, not quite liking his choice of words.

“Not to worry, I won’t harm them,” said Colton. “If they refuse to heed the call then I’ll just hurt their bank accounts to remind them what their ancestors owe the society.”

“Right.” Louise sounded unconvinced. “But what can a bunch of dusty old rich geezers do for us anyways? Money’s already not an issue when we already have Miss Moneybags over here.”

“Tsk tsk, Miss Blanchette.” Colton wagged his finger at her. “In business and war, knowledge and connections are worth their weight in gold.”

“The fuck is that supposed to mean?”

“It means that while the other members of Silver Star Society won’t be joining us in fighting the Primordial Church, they can provide us with the knowledge of where to strike and the connections to make it possible.”

“We already know where to strike,” said Louise. “New Dawn Square, in the Dragon’s Tail. That’s where their compound is.”

“Assuming you three were to lay siege to it now,” said Colton, “enter the compound and slaughter everyone in sight. What do you suppose would happen?”

“That's obvious, innit?” Louise crossed her arms. “This whole mess will be done with.”

Valen wasn’t quite so optimistic.

“When I was in the Unborn God’s realm, I saw people wearing clothes from all over the world…I have a feeling that this extends to beyond just Dragon’s Rest,” he said. “Also, I’d rather not conduct wanton slaughter on people who are very much victims themselves. It’s not their fault they got tricked into serving the Unborn God.”

“What do you want to do then?” asked Enid. “Try to talk them all down?”

“Even if they were willing to listen, they can’t help but obey the Unborn God if they’ve already consumed its blood,” said Valen. “Just look at what happened to Nigel. There has to be a way to attack the Unborn God directly and spare his victims.”

“Cut the snake’s head off and the body will die.” Colton nodded in approval. “I like the way you think, Mister Vasilis.”

“Are you sure you just don’t just want to throw hands with the Unborn God directly?” asked Louise dryly.

Colton laughed and raised his hands up in mock surrender, his cane hanging off his arm.

“Guilty as charged, Miss Blanchette.” Colton’s smile turned to a toothy grin. “I do look forward to learning what a god’s scream sounds like.”

“It’s like a dying cat,” said Enid, remembering the sound the Unborn God made when it was forced out of Valen’s body. “Not a pleasant sound.”

Colton raised an eyebrow at her. “You’ve heard it?”

“Yeah, when-” Enid’s ringing phone cut her off. She took out her phone and took a look at the caller ID, which read ‘Concierge’. “Hang on a sec, I have to take this.”

Enid tapped the answer icon and the frantic voice of Evelyn, her concierge at the Grand Skystone, immediately blared from the speakers.

“Miss Flamel?!” she asked in a panic. “Are you there?!”

“I am.” Enid’s expression grew serious. “Why?”

“Oh, thank the gods!” Evelyn sighed on the other side of the phone. “Are your boyfriend and girlfriend with you?”

“Snowball’s not my girlfriend but yes, they’re both with me,” said Enid. “What’s this all about?”

Evelyn sounded like she was fighting back tears, and what she said turned the temperature in the warm lounge room down to near absolute zero.

“A bomb went off in your penthouse,” she said. “Miss Flamel…it was meant for you.”