Cane pointed towards the octagonal structure. “And that, my friend, will be your base of operations. It gives you an unobstructed view of the entire market. Since the market never closes I have instructed your men to stop by and introduce themselves to you throughout the day. Also you can hire the additional female guards whenever you are ready. In the office you will find a list of everyone’s pay, so you can determine what each of your new guards is worth. You have enough in your budget to hire the new guards without letting anyone go but that is also up to you.”
“I’ve never even dreamed of anything like this before. This place is wonderful.”
Cane only smiled and continued on his way. I followed behind him in complete awe. The smells and sounds of the market threatened to overwhelm me. The smell of fresh food being cooked wafted over the crowds, my stomach growled as the different smells reminded me that I hadn’t eaten yet today. Cane let out a small laugh at the sound of my belly as he continued forward. The merchants each had their own unique calls trying to get customers to stop and sample their goods. The diversity of goods being offered and the species selling them was unheard of. It seemed everything was for sale here; weapons, cloth, jewels, humans, pretenders, all for sale and all of them going to the highest bidder.
Each shout from a merchant was louder than the next, each stall we passed the prices and quality of items increased. I noticed one of the largest buildings in the square was decorated with Tessa’s surname. So this was where her father made all of his money. No shock there really. He was a slaver by reputation. If I remembered correctly he trained Lycans to sell them to the wealthy. Having experienced two of them first hand I could say he did a good job.
Cane led me towards the side of the market and past a guard. The guard nodded as we moved by clearing the path to the black stairs built into the wall. Once we reached the top we walked out across the wide expanse of the market. Fifty feet below our shoes I watched as people haggled over goods and services, purchases being made and goods exchanging hands. It was the very definition of capitalism. Everything could be bought, everything was for sale. Up here the sound of the crowd and the merchants was held to a dull roar. When we walked into the building the sound was completely cut off, the walls must have been enchanted to provide some peace from the chaos below.
Cane motioned for me to take a seat behind the large desk in the center of the room. Walking towards the desk I noticed that glass panels had been inserted into the floor of the office. You could see almost every corner of the market from this room. Funny I hadn’t noticed the clear floor from the outside. The glass must have been spelled to match the wooden construction from the outside, while remaining clear enough to see through from my desk.
Sitting down I turned back towards Cane only to see that he was watching the market instead of me. “This place has exceeded all of my expectations. It’s as if the market is a living breathing thing.”
Cane continued to watch out of the panels. “It is a living thing, it needs to be nurtured to grow, and any contaminants need to be purged from the system. Even now I can see one such blemish that needs to be dealt with.”
Rising quickly from the desk I strode to where Cane was standing and could see a man arguing with a merchant. While I couldn’t make out their words in my office it was quickly becoming clear that violence was imminent. I looked towards Cane for direction, but he didn’t say a word. This was another one of his little tests, it had to be. That meant I needed to proceed with caution. Without a word to him, I left the office. My staff was trying to work their way towards the merchant, but there was no way they would be able to fight through the growing crowd in time.
Rushing across the catwalk until I was even with the merchant’s stall I launched myself from the metal structure into the open air. Before I hit the ground I called upon my gift to lighten myself and slow my descent. I landed so silently that the man arguing with the merchant didn’t even turn around. The crowd let out a gasp at my sudden appearance, but the two men were too involved in their argument to hear it. The crowd continued to gather around the two men, sensing that this was going to escalate to a bloody end soon. I reached out to place a hand on the shoulder of the man shouting at the merchant. As soon as I touched him he spun around to face me, his eyes glowing with anger. “Can you tell me what the problem is?” I asked.
The man tried to push me away, snarling some kind of obscenity. The blow to my chest didn’t move me back an inch. When I didn’t move it only seemed to infuriate the man further. I watched events play out in almost slow motion. He reached inside of his cloak, pulling a knife from his belt. The blade lashed out towards me in the same movement. I was surprised when I felt the blade slash across my chest. Somehow the enchanted steel had passed through my personal shield. He moved towards me, closing the distance as I stumbled back. His eyes burned with intensity and he raised his hand to deliver the killing blow. I raised one finger and his forward progress stopped. He fell to his knees, the knife falling harmlessly from his hands as he gripped his throat. I kept the spell in place, slowly pulling the oxygen from his lungs as he looked at me gasping. It was time to end this, I stepped forward and placed one finger over his heart, and he fell to the floor dead.
The sounds of the market came crashing back to me as the fight ended. The crowd that had been growing thinned almost immediately as the action ended. People had stopped for the show but now they had more important business to take care of. The merchant watched me with wary eyes and one of the guards finally broke through the throng of milling shoppers and rushed towards me. Kneeling down, I picked up the knife. It would make a fine addition to my collection, and who knows, next time I was facing one of the Gifted it might come in handy. The guard issued a challenge towards me but the words fell from his lips as I looked up at him.
“Sorry, boss, I didn’t know it was you.”
Wracking my brain from my brief look at the guards’ files his name clicked into place. “That is ok, Joe. See if you can do something with this body, will you? Also if you could bring anything else you find on him up to my office that would be great.”
“Sure thing, boss.”
I watched as the muscular man flipped the body easily over his shoulder and walked back into the crowd. They now parted around him with ease. It was almost as if they had deliberately interfered with his progression on his way towards the argument. Maybe they had wanted to see what would happen when he didn’t get there in time.
The merchant had yet to take his eyes off of me. Walking over to his booth I flipped the knife end over end in my hand. “Care to shed some light on the situation?”
The merchant’s eyes flicked around behind me watching the perspective clients move around his goods. He wouldn’t be making any sales while I was still standing here. So when he answered it came out with a little more venom than I had been expecting. “It’s none of your business.”
“Well then I assume you will be happy to pack up your goods and move on. My understanding is we have a waiting list of people that would love this particular location.”
“Let’s not be so hasty, friend.” The merchant scrambled to recover. “Why would I be forced to leave just because you killed some beggar?”
“The security of the market is my only concern and on my first hour on the job I had to personally intervene in a situation. That makes you a problem. If some dispute between you and some beggar interrupts our shoppers that makes it Cane’s problem. Since I solve his problems for him, that makes you my problem. The easiest way to make sure no one else becomes a problem like you is to make you an example of just what happens when you cross me.”
“You’re the new magistrate, please forgive my ignorance.”
“I will not forgive your ignorance, or the tone you chose to address me with. When I return in a few hours I expect you to have your wares removed, if not they will be considered forfeit and you will be escorted out.”
“Wait, wait. What can I do to ease this burden for
you? You have only to ask and it will be yours.”
“Why was that man here?”
“We had a disagreement about a slave he had purchased.”
“And?”
“He took offense as to how she performed her duties.”
“Continue.”
“There was a slight disagreement about how she was labeled for sale; I had listed her as willing to offer certain services.”
“So?”
“Well apparently when his brother tried to partake in those services, she used a ham bone from the table to stab him in the neck.”
I couldn’t help but laugh. I still wasn’t on board with human trafficking, and it was good to know that one of them had made the asshole pay with blood. There were so many deplorable acts that I had become used to, but slavery still set me on edge. “So let me get this straight, you sold a pillow maiden to someone and she killed his brother with a ham bone?”
He shifted his head down, and barely looked up while answering. “Yes.”
I started to laugh again, I couldn’t help myself. If this was the kind of thing I was in store for here it was going to be a very exciting job. Never trust a merchant when the price is just a little too good. He seemed to smile at my reaction, taking it as a sign that he had pleased me in some way. He hadn’t.
“Listen to me; those clients are what keep both of us in business. If I am forced to come down here and deal with a similar situation you will be removed from this market. Understand?”
“Yes.”
“Good.”
Without a further thought I walked back towards the edge of the market and access to the nearest catwalk. When I returned to my office I found that Cane had taken a seat and had been enjoying the show. I guess now I would find out how I performed on my first day on the job. I sat down at my desk and Cane turned to face me.
“Very well done, they should have a healthy respect for you now.”
“Thank you, sir.”
“Just remember, some of the larger merchants employ their own guards. So when you enter one of the actual buildings you will be outnumbered, and threats will not be as effective. I suggest if you ever find yourself in that situation that you act first and sort it out later.”
“Thank you for the tip.”
“I would also expect that you will be receiving invitations to meet with each of the four owners of those buildings. Remember what I said, and also each of them will try and play you against one or more of the others.”
“I would expect nothing less.”
“It’s your job to keep them in line, but also happy and rich. It’s a fine line but I think you are up to the task. I’ll be leaving the market in your capable hands. Don’t let me down.” As he said the last part Cane’s eyes briefly flashed red.
“What happened to the last man that ran the market?”
“He didn’t live up to those expectations.”
Standing up, I shook his hand and then sat back down as he left the office. Well at least if I didn’t perform well at my job I didn’t have to worry about the retirement package. I slowly spun my chair around taking in the sights of the market. There was a lot of work that had to be done here, and no better time to start it. With a thought I repaired the wound to my chest and the clothes I was wearing. No reason to look like a slob when I had interviews to conduct. I had to find out just how loyal these men were, I had a feeling more than a few of them had been bought by the four, and that wouldn’t do.
It was time to inject some new blood into the market, and bring some small amount of order to the chaos below. What else could you expect when working with demons? The strong survived and the weak were put to work or killed. The world the Pretenders lived in was not entirely just, but neither was what the humans lived in. Freedom was an illusion created by the powerful. In the market that illusion would be created by me.
9
John
April 1924
When my eyes opened I found myself looking at the most beautiful face in the world. Waking up next to the woman I loved was still the best part of my day even after forty years together. One thing about having a nearly immortal life span was that I had plenty of time left to wake up looking at her. I had learned the hard way not to take any of that time for granted.
Last year Sarah had almost died when she had been bitten by a large demon serpent. I had been forced to choose between her life and the values of our order. I made the easy choice, and I would do it again in a heartbeat. The only regret I had was that I now owed a favor to the most powerful warlock in our city. While this was most certainly going to land me in a tricky situation, it was worth it to save the love of my life.
Five months had passed since the night I had almost lost her, and every day she had grown stronger than the day before. She impressed me so much with how hard she had worked to get back to full strength and the battle she won to secure her pack. Training Gavin had kept me out of the field longer than I would have liked and now that Sarah was back at full strength it was time for us to get back out there.
Not that being a homebody didn’t have its own special perks. I had spent more time with Sarah over the last five months than I had in the previous two years, and it had only solidified our relationship further. If I had learned anything during that time it was that I never wanted to be without her again. She was going to be glued by my side for every mission. Against anything we would always prevail, as long as we were together.
Adam had sent word that he wanted to meet with both of us. It was hard for me to keep my excitement at bay. Had they found Edward? Would we finally get the chance to bring the Butcher of the Bay to justice? Someone had to stop him before he found another way to try and destroy our city.
The only other major project that the Ascendancy was working on was locating and shutting down an illicit underground market. Word around the base was that despite all of our best efforts the market had remained hidden. It either moved locations or was spelled in such a way that it seemed to move. No one that we captured was willing to talk about it. Even torture wouldn’t loosen their lips, and that meant whoever was running it was scarier than we were.
Either way I was looking forward to getting back out into the city and putting a stop to whatever the Demons were planning. We had been sidelined for far too long.
Sarah had opened her eyes while I had been musing on past events. I leaned over and gave her a kiss on the mouth. She smiled up at me and I couldn’t do anything but smile in return. Crawling out of bed I headed towards our kitchen to get a pot of coffee brewing. While I could function in the morning, Sarah needed a cup of joe to ease her way into the day. I walked back into the bedroom only to see her still lying in bed.
“The coffee is on. Don’t take too long to get ready. We have a meeting with Adam this morning.”
“Yes, I couldn’t possibly have forgotten about it, it’s all you have been talking about since yesterday afternoon. What’s the hurry to go and see Adam anyway? Has staying at home and ravishing me become too boring for you?”
There was no good answer for that so I tried an attempt at humor. “It hasn’t for you?”
I didn’t expect the immediate response and that was my downfall. The pillow sailed across the room and hit me square in the face. I guess the right thing to say to a horny werewolf was that a little more of the ravishing would be preferred over going back to work. In my excitement about going out into the field I had only been half listening to what she said anyways and now I was going to have to make it better. It was a deep hole I found myself in and I was going to have to fight hard for every inch on the way out of it.
“Sarah, you know what I meant. I just want to get back out there and do what we do best. Training Gavin was awesome but I’m ready for more.”
“You’re lucky I love you, plus you look kind of good even with your foot in your mouth.”
“I always thought that was one of my more endearing qualities.”
“Making coffee is an
endearing quality, looking good with your foot in your mouth is a gift from god. Saying you don’t want to ravish me just makes you an ass.”
“That is why you’re perfect for me. You recognize all of my best qualities.”
I happily dodged the next pillow on my way into the bathroom. When I got out of the shower I was happy to see that Sarah was already in the kitchen and drinking her coffee. I gave her a kiss on the top of the head as I passed by. “I’ll start breakfast, the bathroom is all yours.”
“Ok, make sure to give me at least twenty minutes before it’s ready.”
“That is going to cut it close for making our meeting on time.”
“I’m sure that Adam can spare a few extra minutes.”
“I swear you’re only doing this because he hates it.”
“Well it is the little things in life that give me pleasure,” she said with a smirk.
I let out a laugh and turned towards the fridge. It was time to prepare us a hearty back-to-work meal. If we did end up in the field today we were going to need the extra calories. Eggs, bacon, pancakes and potatoes were all on the menu today. Shifting always left Sarah ravenous, the same way it did when I overused my gift. It was always better to be prepared for the extra caloric burn than to be left wishing I had eaten more.
Sarah joined me at the table just as the large meal was being piled onto the plates. I swear even when she was in her human form her sense of smell was out of this world. It was never a big surprise when she walked into the kitchen just when the food was ready; she probably did it nine times out of ten. I smiled as I brought the plates of food to the table. It was time to dig in.
As we finished our meal I looked over and for the first time I noticed that Sarah didn’t have her armor on. I started to wonder if she really didn’t want to go back into the field. Was it possible her brush with death had changed her that much? I wondered if she would want me to stop putting myself in danger, or if she would be ok with me continuing to work while she stayed back on base to train the pack.
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