“What are you up to this time, Mother?” I asked, my voice dripping with suspicion.
“No good, of course,” she said in a singsong voice that had me snorting.
As much as I itched to pry some more, she wouldn’t expand further. Therefore, insisting would be a waste of both our time.
“At what time?” I asked, defeated.
To my surprise, she hesitated, her wheels spinning as she carefully chose her words. In that instant, I realized she was looking for a workaround to the Covenant. Gods, Ancients, and demigods like me were all bound by strict rules that limited our ability to intervene in the lives of mortals, especially if we attempted to help them in a way that would impact what Fate had in store for them.
What are you hiding? Whose lives are you attempting to meddle in?
“It is always wise to leave that cursed place before sundown,” she replied at last. “So make sure you give yourself enough time. Goodbye, Lyall.”
I watched her walk around the table and sit back on her stool. It quietly glided the short distance to her spinning wheel, and she resumed her work.
Properly dismissed, I faced the door, which opened on its own before me, and I headed out into the night. As I shifted back into a Gharlakan and took flight, my mind swirled with unsated curiosity as to what adventure my mother was setting me on. I could only hope it involved plenty of blood and mayhem.
Chapter 2
Eleni
As I completed my descent and landed my Galadia in front of the tall gates of Willow Grove’s Inquisition Sanctum, I couldn’t help crinkling my nose with disgust. I remained seated on my flying mount—a special breed of hippogriffs with dragon DNA—as the gates parted before me. Why in the world did they need to be gold plated?
Pasha—my Galadia—trotted gracefully up the path leading to the large front courtyard of the old manor turned into the Sanctum. The sheer opulence felt obscene with professional landscaping, highly ornate forged iron railing, marble pavers, and a giant statue of Saint Peter of Verona, the patron saint of the Inquisitors. Before I even set foot inside the building, I already knew what fancy decorations and adornments would greet me. So much money ill-spent on vanity... Far too often, I had borne witness to donations and fines being spent on useless luxury instead of providing reparations to victims or appeasing the pain left behind by the monsters we hunted.
I dismounted, gave Pasha a treat, and instructed her to stay. Before I could even set foot on the first of five steps of the large staircase, the heavy, sculpted, wooden doors of the Sanctum opened quietly, revealing a young cleric. She wore similar tight leather pants as I did. But her top was a sleeveless leather tunic with the hood drawn up over her head. The light-brown color of her outfit indicated she was still a novice. Senior Inquisitors like me wore darker shades of brown, black, or deep burgundy.
I frowned at the sight of her curly brown hair spilling freely over her shoulders from under her hood. Even though she wasn’t dressed to head out on a mission that might involve combat, she was expected to maintain her hair tightly bound while on duty to prevent it being used against her.
“Hello, Sister,” the young cleric said. “Welcome to the Sanctum. My name is Shauna.”
“Hello, Shauna,” I replied, hopping up the stairs and continuing inside without waiting to be invited. “I am Eleni Stavros, Senior Inquisitor of the Curia. I have been sent by the Holy Office.”
“The Holy Office?” Shauna echoed with a slight hesitation.
I waved a dismissive hand. “Right, it has recently been renamed the Dicastery for Doctrine of the Faith. Some habits die hard for us old timers.”
Judging by the discreet assessing look she cast my way, she disagreed with my insinuation that I was old. At thirty-two years of age, I would indeed not qualify as ancient. However, as I spent the majority of my life raised by one of the most secret departments of the Holy Office, I struggled to think of it under any other name.
“I’m assuming you wish to see the Prefect?” Shauna asked while half-jogging to keep up with my fast pace.
“Yes,” I replied without slowing down.
“This way, please,” she said, gesturing towards the direction I was already headed.
Despite the ostentatious display that greeted me within, the layout was proper and pretty standard for a Sanctum. It would have been perfect with the eggshell-colored walls, arched doorways, and dark wooden panels adorning the walls and exposed beams. However, the various statues, weapons, and other artifacts on full display throughout the greeting hall made it look more like a museum than the holy shelter of the Roman Curia’s warriors. There was no question many of those items were worth a fortune, likely taken as payment or punishment from the people found guilty of occult crimes.
A part of me almost felt guilty watching the young cleric slightly out of breath as she hastened to knock on the door of the Prefect’s office. But the other part felt even more displeased that this would suffice to strain her. It spoke of a lack of proper training. Granted, she was still a novice, and I wanted to believe this wasn’t a sign of a generalized issue. Considering the reason for my presence here, I feared that might precisely be the case.
“Come in,” a male voice called out.
Shauna opened the door and stepped in with a sheepish expression.
“Brother Ewan, the Senior Inquisitor Eleni Stavros is here to see you on behalf of the Dicastery,” she said, waving in my direction as I entered the room.
“Thank you,” I said politely to Shauna. “Please make sure no one disturbs my Galadia.”
She nodded and quietly exited the room.
