“And no one has ever reported the missing people…” Kain couldn’t believe his ears. What age did these people live in when young men and women could go missing without a trace and no one even gave it a second thought?
“D’Argyle is very careful,” answered Ke-sar. “Our guess is that he hypnotizes them into believing there’s a story behind each disappearance. This boy ran away from home, that girl went to work in the city… Harmless ideas no one would ever become suspicious of.”
“So, how did we discover him?” asked Alexi.
Lilith leaned back in her chair and fixed the two cambions with her bright, absinthe eyes. “A month ago, Tengu was contacted by a shaman. It seems the old man had been in a mystic
trance for the past 100 years, and he woke up when one of his magic items was stolen. He went looking for it, came across a small, isolated village, and noticed something wasn’t right. He felt the demon’s powerful aura floating above the people, keeping them in a sort of blissful haze. He knew Lure was his safest bet.”
“What magic item?” Alexi had always been interested in the humans’ ways of using magic. Words of power, potions, enchanted items they could barely understand and manipulate. It was fascinating how they never gave up even when the magic they toyed with consumed them from within.
“A phial. The shaman says it contains dead water and living water, which are very rare. It’s hard to believe anyone in the world has these two in their possession today, but since Tengu and Nyame brought clear evidence that Casimir D’Argyle is, indeed, a Ke’let demon, nothing surprises me anymore.”
“I… I’m sorry, I’m afraid I don’t follow,” said Kain. “What do they even do? Dead water and living water, I mean.”
“There are legends about them,” said Alexi. “More like fairy tales. It’s said that dead water has the ability to completely regenerate a dead, broken body. You use it to heal wounds and put limbs back together. Then, living water brings the person back to life.”
“Don’t tell me it also makes them immortal.”
“No, but they do live a long life.” Alexi smiled at Kain’s surprised expression. The blond was so cute when he was confused.
“Well, did the shaman get his phial back?”
“No,” said Lilith. “We’ll help him get it back, and he’ll help us bring down Casimir D’Argyle. Tengu is still in Ukraine, trying to gather more information, but you know he can’t go near the demon’s mansion. The bastard would smell him from miles away. This is a serious situation. That’s why we asked you both here. It’s time the two of you worked together. I believe you had more than enough time to get used to each other in the past month, all with sharing the same room and mentoring the same apprentice.”
Kain and Alexi didn’t say anything. Neither of them was sure this was such a good idea. They still didn’t agree on most things they had to do together. They even bickered over which demons to throw in the glass cell for Sophie to train on.
“Now, the good news is that the demon is currently ‘recruiting’ young men and women for his annual party. This should make your infiltration much easier.”
“And the bad news?” asked Kain.
“It seems that the spots for the male ‘entertainers’ have been filled. He’s only looking for women now. I know I want you two on this case and this is why I called this meeting, but I think it’s only fair to let you choose the female cambion you want to work with.”
The two exchanged a quick glance, then Alexi spoke for the both of them: “Sophie.”
“Out of the question,” Lilith cut him.
“She’s good,” insisted Kain. “Hasn’t Erah showed you the weekly reports? She’s good and she’s getting better and better.”
“I’m not going to let a new cambion with no experience on the field work on such a complicated case. Choose someone else.”
“Look,” Alexi leaned forward in his chair, catching Lilith’s gaze and holding it. “You want us to work together even though you’re aware neither of us has ever been a team player. Sophie is the only reason we were able to find some common ground. Take her out of the picture, and we’re just two cambions with different skills and completely different strategies that are very likely to clash. We’ve been working alone for too long. I hope you didn’t think that forcing us to share a room and interact on a daily basis was going to turn us in the best partners in a month.”
Lilith bit the inside of her cheek, unsure what to say.
Kain slapped the file close, the unexpected noise startling everyone in the office. “Sophie is ready, and she has to start somewhere. So, why not here, why not now? When you have a new cambion with such potential, you don’t give her a simple case, you challenge her. Oh, and Alexi is right. Everything goes to shit when it’s just the two of us. But Sophie’s aura… it has a weird way of creating a sort of balance between ours.”
Heavy silence enveloped the room for a couple of minutes. Lilith stole a glance at Nyame, but the purple-haired succubus only shook her head as if to say it wasn’t her job to make a decision. Ke-sar shrugged his shoulders, and Lilith knew his answer was the same. She sighed, removed her fake glasses, and pinched the bridge of her nose.
“All right. You can take Sophie with you. But make damn sure she is ready and she knows all the case details. Don’t forget to mention you will be using her as bait. If she’s smart, she’ll walk away rather than encourage you two idiots and your insane plan.”
“Hey!” Alexi’s green eyes shot daggers at the headmistress. “Why did you choose us for this case?”
“Because you’re our best cambions and I trust you’ll do a good job.”
“Awesome. That must mean you believe we know what we’re doing.”
“I believe you knew what you were doing on your past cases.”