Dangerous Games: Ch. 12 Preview

Diane gives Ethan a few minutes to process this new information, but despite the sudden revelation, Ethan wasn’t surprised. In fact, learning Sera was part vampire made a strange kind of sense to him, it explained her fangs and his dream of her biting him.

“Ok, so what does that have to do with me, is she after my blood?” Ethan asks.

“Oh, no, human blood is too weak, vampires need the blood of other vampires to sustain them usually that of the opposite sex.” Diane states, but then pauses. “At least that’s how it is for normal vampires I can’t be too certain about Sera.” Diane muses to herself.

“What!?” Ethan’s eyes go wide.

“Relax, I’m fairly certain she’s not after your blood.” Diane hurriedly states.

Ethan calms down but continues to eye Diane with uncertainty. “Ok, what then?”

“In regard to you, I’m not a hundred percent sure. I have a theory, but to share it would be to overstep my bounds.”

Ethan grits his teeth, he wanted to grab Diane and demand she tell him, but he could tell from the look in her eyes that it would be pointless.

“What I do know, is that she is here hunting an apostate.” Diane continues.

“An apostate?”

“Apostates are witches who refuse to acknowledge the council’s authority and live outside the council’s influence.”

“Wait, so there are unregulated witches running around doing whatever they want?”

“No, most apostates are careful not to cause trouble, because they know if they do the council would send wiccans after them.”

Ethan shakes his head in confusion, “Wiccans?”

“Wiccans are the council’s enforcers; they are powerful witches who are dispatched whenever council law has been broken.” Diane answers.

“Are they a military force or a police force?” Ethan questions.

“Both.”

Ethan takes a moment to think on this new information and remembers the three hooded figures who confronted Sera at the warehouse.

“So, is Sera a wiccan?” Ethan asks.

Diane sighs, “No.”

Ethan waits for Diane to explain but she doesn’t, instead moving the topic back to the apostate.

“This apostate Sera is hunting is particularly dangerous, it is responsible for no less than a thousand deaths not only in the human community but the supernatural one as well.”

“Jesus.” Ethan states in a low tone.

“What’s worse is that the apostate may have been receiving help from some witches here in Port Iron.”

“Why are you telling me this?”

“Because I need your help and I need you to understand why.”

“Help with what?”

“I need your help getting something.”

“Heh.” Ethan slowly shakes his head in disbelief, “You mean steal.”

“Yes.” Diane responds solemnly.

Ethan sighs and takes a seat on the computer chair behind him, remembering that he was still holding the file and the box with the necklace, he sets them down on the desk behind him. He was exhausted, he’d never worked jobs in such quick succession before. First the warehouse with Erik, then the necklace for Sera, and now this. He was wearing himself out, he knew the smart thing to do would be to say no and take some time to regroup.

“Fine.” Ethan answers. “But I have a few questions I need answers to first.”

Diane gives Ethan a small nod in reply.

“The other night Sera asked me to steal this necklace, any idea why?” Ethan reaches behind him and opens the box, showing the necklace to Diane.

“Interesting, can you bring it closer?” Diane asks.

Ethan gets up and brings the box over to Diane, she slowly raises her hand and looks up at Ethan waiting for his permission to touch the necklace. Ethan nods: having received permission Diane reaches in and grabs the necklace. She carefully looks the necklace over before focusing on the purple centerpiece.

“Hmmm, I can sense magic in this gem, but what kind or for what purpose I can’t say. I would have to take it back to my lab to figure it out.” Diane states, as she places the necklace back in the box.

Ethan’s head slightly cocks to the right at Diane’s response, he was intrigued by her use of the word ‘lab’ and what that meant but decides to sideline that line of questioning for now.

“So, stealing this wasn’t something the council asked for?”

“No.” Diane responds without a trace of doubt.

“You sure?” Ethan pushes.

“Yes I’m sure, while I’m not part of the council I due keep track of their activities, that being said if one of them asked for this personally and not as a council member I can’t say for sure.”

Ethan nods in understanding as he closes the box and sets it down on the coffee table next to him, before sitting down on the love seat opposite of Diane.

“Alright, so Sera, what is she?”

“I told you she’s half-”

“No, I mean what is she to the council? Because I maybe an outsider in all this but even I can tell she’s breaking rules of some sort, and she doesn’t seem to be afraid of the council retaliating.”

Diane’s eyebrows furrow as she thinks how to answer, “Hmmm. That is a complicated question.”

“Is she an apostate?”

“No, but she doesn’t exactly respect council law either.”

“What then?”

“From what I’ve seen she and the council have an understanding. What it is and how it works, I don’t know.

Diane’s answers about Sera were leaving Ethan with even more questions.

“The night of Eckhart’s party I stole a drive from Sera, it contains a list of patients, which includes my mother, with the same unknown illness. Why?”

Once again Diane is unable to hide the surprise on her face, “You have the drive? Sera told us that she was still in possession of it.”

“Nope, I have it.” Ethan calmly corrects.

Diane looks at Ethan with a somewhat impressed expression before continuing, “The information on that drive is evidence. It was being shared by the witches who were helping the apostate here in Port Iron, it proved they were in contact.”

“How, how does a list of patients prove that?”

Diane hesitates before answering, “Because the apostate Sera is chasing is responsible for the illness.”

“What?”

“I wish I knew more, but that information has been marked ‘as need to know’ by the council.”

Ethan was dumbstruck, his whole body seemed to go numb, he tried to talk but his thoughts were a disjointed mess.

“But…how…it’s not…”

Diane gets up and walks into the kitchen, she quickly returns with a glass of water, but before giving it to Ethan she takes what looks like a small pill out of her pocket and drops it into the glass. Diane places her hand above the glass and begins to make a circular motion with her finger. The water in the glass begins to turn in time with her finger and the pill quickly dissolve, changing the color of the water to a soft pink. She then holds out the glass to Ethan who eyes the glass and then Diane. He had already guessed she was a witch but seeing her use magic so openly in front of him was still nerve wracking.

“Ethan, please trust me.” Diane asks in a sincere voice.

Ethan continues to look into Diane’s eyes and only sees his mom’s kind and loving friend. He lets out a sigh and takes the glass, quickly gulping down its contents. Within a few seconds, a strange warmth spreads throughout his body, calming both his mind and body.

“See, nothing sinister.” Diane says with a smile.

“Thanks.” Ethan replies.

With his mind now clear, Ethan thinks back to his and Sera’s conversation outside his mother’s hospital.

“Sera basically blackmailed me into stealing the necklace, saying that if I got this for her, she would treat mom’s illness. Can she do it, can she actually cure my mom?” Ethan asks.

“Yes, I believe so.”

Ethan sighs, “As happy as I am to hear that, I don’t like her using my mother like this or having this control over me or. Is there anything you can do?”

“That’s actually why I’m here, I want to cure not just your mother but everyone who has the illness. The council has only just recently learned about the illness and that an apostate is the cause. They’re terrified of what this news could do if the others found out.”

“By others, you mean the vampires and werewolves, but why would they care about us humans?”

“Believe me when I say they just would. Because of this the council is refusing to let anyone, but Sera investigate. That’s why I brought her to see your mother, I was hoping to glean some information so that I might heal your mother myself but…”

“But then I showed up and ruined things.” Ethan finished.

“Please understand, the council members are good people and I have no doubt they will start curing people in time. And Sera though she may be…”

“Violent, controlling, aggressive, psychotic.” Ethan chimed in.

“Forceful.” Diane interrupted. “I know she would never anything happen to your mother.”

“How?”

“Because she’s YOUR mother.”

Once again Ethan is perplexed by the notion of Sera’s obsession of him being a good thing.

“But the longer they take the more people die. So, I want you to sneak into Sera’s office and steal her data on the illness, so I can figure out a cure.”

“Sera’s office, as in her office at your council’s HQ?” Ethan questioned in disbelief.

“Yes.”

“Let me get this straight, you want me to steal files from the office of half vampire half witch whose obsession of me borders on violent, and if catches me will probably lock me up and throw away they key, all while sneaking through a building full of witches?”

“Interested?”

“When do we start?”