by S A Tedman
“How the hell do you do that?” she asked, blown away by her beautiful friend, “I should have been able to hear and smell you from miles away!”
“I know,” the woman in the white cocktail dress smiled cheerfully. “Special training, I guess, that and a little magic,” she finished, pouring herself some tea and nibbling on a biscuit.
“Victoria, it's always nice to see you.”
“And you Beth! Why am I here?”
The Headmistress smiled. She had a soft spot for people who didn't waste her time or ask stupid questions.
“Straight to the point, as always,” she muttered, straightening and pulling at her sleeve to smooth out a crease.
The woman in front of her looked around, her locks of gold bouncing around her friendly face and bright blue eyes.
“When will you add a little colour to this office, it's so dreary in here!” she joked kindly, sipping her tea.
Elisabeth chuckled and followed her friend’s gaze. It was true that everything was black and white, with the occasional grey but it was exactly how she liked it. And besides, there was at least one splash of colour.
“What about my painting?”
“Horrible, terrible, as bad as Pollock.”
“Well, you’re not hired as an art teacher then.”
“Oh, was that an option? I’d be a lot better as a school sex-counsellor.”
“That’s not a real job, you know. Now tell me, how have you been? Any news from the front?”
Elisabeth wondered if Victoria had also managed to sneak past Alfred on her way in.
“Good, fine actually, nothing much happening, the usual mess to sort out: portals, white magic nonsense… you know. Nothing for us.”
“Hmm…”
“I'm guessing however that if you called me here, you have something for me.”
“Yes. You're not going to like it, though.”
“I rarely do.”
Her friend sighed, putting down her cup.
“You… owe me a favour,” Elisabeth said carefully.
“Yes, I know,” Victoria’s voice was just as careful as the Headmistress’s.
“Well, you know I don't like asking but…”
“Spit it out Beth, it's the way we work, isn't it?”
“Your favour is due.”
Victoria didn't answer immediately, and Elisabeth hoped she hadn't gone too far. It was just the way the Fold worked. The primary currency between them were favours, and if you lived long enough, someone might help you out during the Renaissance and ask you to repay him two, four, or six hundred years later, and there was nothing you could do about it.
Even if in the meantime you had become enemies.
It was a moral and ethical contract that bound souls and was stronger than any magic that existed. And Victoria and Elisabeth had made that deal decades ago.
“I'm listening,” the woman nodded slowly, marking her respect and submission.
“There is a boy.”
“Name?” Victoria asked, a look of worry drawn across her face.
“Name him yourself. It is of no importance to me.”
“A child needs a name,” she insisted.
“You will find an appropriate one, I am sure.”
“Good,” she said, breathing heavily, “for a second, I thought you were going to ask me to kill a child.”
“Quite the contrary, actually. I need you to step down from your usual duties. You need to find him, and care for him, as his grandmother.”
“Grandmother? Why not as his mother?”
“Marianne and Charles will act as his parents.”
“If you say so, but I’m not sure I’m best fitted for that role,” Victoria looked down at her revealing dress, raising her eyebrows. She slipped her hand under her right breast and winked, releasing the tension in the room.
Elisabeth was glad her friend had kept her sense of humour, despite the seriousness of the meeting.
“You will have to stop suckling on the immortality package the Black Rose has offered and grow old. You shall be the charming grandmother - you know the one I'm talking about - the one who knits and bakes cookies. It is all part of your role.”
She slid the third folder over to Victoria.
“As you wish… But I hate growing old,” she moaned as she opened up the file going through the papers hastily, 'France, huh?'
“Yes. Marianne and Charles will do everything in their power to ensure he has a miserable childhood. Your goal is to make sure you do everything in yours to make up for it. He needs to trust you, to love you. And when the time comes, you are to send him to me.”
“What, to the Academy?”
“Yes. He will be gifted in arts. By the time he is an adult, I will have turned this school into the best Art School in Europe, so naturally, you will get him to sit for the entry exam.”
“You might want to take the Mondrian down then,” she said, nodding towards the wall.
“You really don’t like it, do you?”
“Nope. Not one bit.”
“Alright, alright. If all goes well, in eighteen years, the boy will pass his exams. He will be accepted on special grant, and I will get rid of the painting,” the Headmistress gave in, with a smile.
“Is it important he gets a special grant?”
“Well, part of your cover is not having a lot of money,” Elisabeth told her, apologetically.
Victoria scowled at the words and fell deeper into her chair.
“Oh no, don't tell me I have to be old and poor!”
“Well, no. Not poor. Just - not very well off.”
“I suppose everything is in the folder…” her friend sighed miserably.
“Yes, you just need to give him a name.”
“And why do you want Charles and Marianne as parents? If you want him to trust me, he doesn't need to have a miserable childhood. A lot of children love their grandmothers, you know.”
“I need him to be in the right disposition to detach himself easily when the time comes.”
“Again, you don't need to be this extreme, I'm sure he’d love to go to art school. Seriously Beth, you are terrible with children.”
Elisabeth didn't answer. She had no interest in sharing more information with Victoria and the woman sitting at her desk took the hint.
“All right. No more questions, I get it.”
She stood up and smiled.
“Your orders are my command.”
She gave a little bow and stopped quite suddenly.
“Where do I find this baby?”
“His mother hasn't given birth yet, but we’ll be flying to the city of Carcassonne together. I shall assist you with this one. Her name is Marie. I don't actually have more yet. I have agents already there trying to find her. Our flight is scheduled tomorrow morning so you can spend the night - if you wish.”
“Wait, you want me to take a baby away from his mother?!”
Victoria looked slightly horrified.
“That won't be necessary,” Elisabeth replied sadly, “she’s not going to survive the birth.”
Victoria had taken her up on her offer and had decided to spend the night. Elisabeth was delighted: this would give them time to unwind, and she could brief her on the details of her mission during the flight. It was a rare thing for Elisabeth to actually like other people, but Victoria was an exception.
They had met during the Second World War and had both witnessed the very first portal open during the London bombing, pouring onto the world the vilest of creatures, hell-bent on destroying any life-form they came across. In a world spliced by uncontrollable forces, one would have thought that the Black Rose would have chosen to team up and fight back with their fellow Immortals, but no. Instead, they had decided it was a good time to wipe out the Physical side of the Branch.
“It’s time this ends,” Victoria had told her. Her voice was chillingly calm.
She’d paid Elisabeth an urgent visit as soon as the Death Order had been sent
out.
The Headmistress watched her curiously from behind her desk. The woman in front of her was shaking with anger as she downed her fourth cup of tea without even a flinch, despite the fact the steaming beverage was clearly burning her lips, tongue and throat.
Elisabeth took a deep breath and opened the top drawer, bringing out a small wooden box. A tree was delicately carved onto the lid, and she stroked it pensively.
Maybe. Just maybe.
“As of today,” the Headmistress said quietly, “the last part of the Death Order has been set in motion. Its sole purpose is the complete annihilation of my kind. All Black Rose officials must adhere to this new law, which is basically a kill on sight order. Any Physical detected before birth is to be cut out of its mother’s womb, the children are to be rounded up and executed, and the elders are to be tortured for information.”
She shut her eyes. None of this should be happening, she thought desperately. How could I have messed up this badly?
When Elisabeth opened her eyes again, she looked at Victoria sternly.
“You have guts coming here; I’ll give you that. But what makes you think I’d be willing to trust you, you who have served them for so long? How could a mere Mortal like yourself possibly help us survive?”
Victoria met the Headmistress’s gaze unflinchingly.
“I may be Mortal, but I am a friend to the Fold, and what I lack in power, I make up for in wit. I am here to make a deal. It is simple. I want to join your ranks. I’m a high ranking member of the Black Rose, and together we can save more of your kind than you can alone. I have heard the rumours: I know you represent a strong voice for the Physicals.”
The Black Rose traitor shook her head in disgust and looked out of the window of the Academy.
“Right now, Telepaths across every city in the world are spreading out and sweeping for people like you. Thousands are being slaughtered as we speak. It’s too late to stop what has begun, but I cannot be a part of this. Whatever I can do to help, I shall.”
There was a silence. Elisabeth could feel the truth behind her words and nodded, pushing the box towards her.
“Place your left hand upon it.”
Victoria lifted her eyebrows dubiously but obeyed nonetheless. As she did so, the carvings glowed orange, and a loud crack ensued.
“What was that?” she asked removing her hand in surprise.
“Take a look at your membership trinket,” Elisabeth smiled, waving at her hand
Victoria looked at the ring she wore and noticed a small crack in it.
“What does this mean?”
“It was a safety precaution. I wanted to make sure you were not loyal to them. It wouldn’t have cracked otherwise,” she told her, satisfied. “If you truly wish to work for me, you must take the Delacourt Oath.”
“The what?”
“The Delacourt Oath. You will have to serve the Delacourt name, but it is a complex matter, and I will let Alfred, the butler you met on your way in, explain it to you. He will also tell me if you are worthy of our trust. You see, he may not be a Telepath, but he does have… other abilities.”
Not long after that meeting, Victoria had become part of the Resistance. As they worked together, Elisabeth found her to be strong for a powerless Mortal, brave, smart, and very advanced for her time.
The Headmistress had listened as she spoke of a world where woman and man would be treated as equals, where sexuality and religious beliefs would be kept private and never be used as an excuse for violence. She saw her weep over the death of an animal, watched her cut off the private parts of a rapist, and witnessed how she’d slit the throat of the doctor who had gouged out the wondrous blue eyes of a Poseidon Physical.
And she’d been there, too, when her friend had stood in front of a room full of Nazi soldiers, begging for their lives. As they’d wept and tried to defend their actions, saying that they had had no choice, Victoria’s eyes had blazed in fury, and she had brushed their excuses aside with a single sentence:
“You could have said no.”
Desperately trying to forget the world around them as it teetered towards the brink of self-destruction, they’d become friends, and then lovers. Elisabeth had found her to be exceptional in bed, and as a Physical of the Feline Branch, that was actually saying something.
It would be nice to rediscover that aspect of Victoria, she thought as they made their way into her bedroom for the night.
During breakfast the next morning, the Headmistress looked at her friend fondly and thought of how things would have been if he had been there. She would have been just as important, of course, but she would also have had six children. One of them would have played a pivotal role in the development of their world, in fact.
It did comfort her in her choice, for who better to take care of the most important child in the world if not someone who was capable of raising six of them?
And Carcassonne was the best place to raise a child, for it was also very far from any Black Rose activity, and there was a certain level of anonymity in Provence that she appreciated.
Victoria caught Elisabeth staring at her and smiled teasingly.
“Can we at least take the jet? I’m about to be poor for the next two decades of my life, can I appreciate some luxury? And anyway, I have all my weapons with me; I’ll be arrested if you don’t get me a special pass.”
The Headmistress laughed.
“Certainly. But I know you. You might have to act poor, but you’ll be sneaking off for spa treatments and fine dining in Paris as often as you can.”
“French cuisine? Oh, what a lovely thought…”
Elisabeth chuckled as she watched Victoria’s eyes glaze over longingly.
They made their way to the airport leaving a concerned looking Alfred behind and took the Delacourt jet that was waiting for them. Victoria spent the journey studying her file, asking an occasional question, while Elisabeth dosed off next to her.
Upon arrival, they took a taxi to the Delacourt Sanctuary outside Montpellier. Elisabeth had created many sanctuaries like this all over the world for people like her and had made sure they would be a safe haven, warded, protected from the outside world, impenetrable by any who wished them harm.
One of her agents was waiting for them at the entrance. Apparently, nothing much ever happened in their sector, so he welcomed the change in their routine eagerly.
“What about the file I asked for? Have you found the pregnant girl?”
Elisabeth wanted to avoid any unnecessary chit-chat and hadn’t even waited to be inside to start her enquires.
“Yes boss,” said the closet-shaped man.
Although it was hot, he was wearing a black pea jacket, a fedora and big dark glasses, obviously trying to hide the green shimmer of his skin. He had a heavy New York accent, and could definitely pass off as a mobster.
“We have a team in the city, waiting for your instructions. The girl is in hospital, and we’ve been told she is due by the end of the week.”
Elisabeth frowned. It was good that they had found her, but that didn’t leave them a lot of time to make the necessary arrangements.
“Anything else I should know about?”
“Yes ma’am. There has been an unusual increase in Physical activity lately.”
The Headmistress raised her eyebrows.
“Meaning?”
“Well - how shall I put this - any Physical following protocol comes to us when they want to visit this area and stay a while. We might get one every five or six years, but lately…”
“Yes?”
“We’ve had seventeen over the past fortnight alone. We’ve turned them all down, of course, especially since your call. But something odd is happening, something magical for sure. I can feel it in the air; we can all feel it, ma’am.”
Her face remained impassive as she nodded.
“Thank you, Jonas. Now give me an update on all my agents in your sector.”
After a quick business lunch, they l
eft for Carcassonne, borrowing a car from the sanctuary.
It was close to the end of summer, and according to the pamphlet that Victoria was reading, the city was going to be packed with tourists.
“There is an art museum,” Victoria told her, “and there are some famous wines around here -yum- and the medieval fortress is supposed to be breathtaking!”
“Yes. In a couple of years, this town will be added to the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites.”
“And you know this how?” Victoria asked, sounding unsurprised.
“Oh you know…” she answered, changing lanes on the motorway as they approached Narbonne.
Elisabeth had been fighting for years to get it on the list, but she didn’t feel like explaining.
“No I don't, but I know I'll never get a straight answer from you!” her friend replied cheerfully, cracking open her window.
The South of France was unusually hot, Elisabeth noted as she drove, although it could have just been the difference with London. She opened her white blouse, and loosened her belt a little, regretting the formal suit. Victoria by her side seemed so comfortable in her light jersey, flowery summer dress and sandals, and she wondered if for once, she should relax a little.
She tightened her grip on the steering wheel. No. There was no time for that. She could always relax in eighteen years once he had returned.
They soon arrived at the city of Carcassonne and drove straight to the hospital. The town was indeed packed with tourists, but thankfully the address was on the outskirts, so they avoided most of the traffic. The carpark was practically deserted, and they waited patiently near the car until they were approached by two very large men who fell to their knees before Elisabeth immediately.
“You don't need to do that here, boys,” she smiled at them. She was happy to see them. They were of the Animal Branch, like her, and she wanted nothing more for them than to run free in the forest together. But it was impossible - she hadn't been able to go for a good run with her fellow Immortals for over fifty years. The Purge had made it so dangerous. The first thing Elisabeth had done, when she’d become the leader of the Resistance, was to forbid anything that would make them show up on Black Rose radars, like running in packs, or flying in murmurations.