A professional does not let personal feelings interfere with her work. A professional does not let personal feelings interfere with her work. A professional does not let personal feelings interfere with her work.
Lina chanted that mantra over and over in her head as the Graywords carriage rambled its merry way to whether its master had directed it to go. Seated across from her, Zelgadiss simply watched the passing buildings, oblivious to the very disgruntled disposition of his recently hired employee. He had announced, with very little prelude, that he had come this morning so that they may begin the investigation at once.
Now, there was no reason that he had to personally come to engage her, especially not at such a gossip-inducing hour. She all but threw him out of her flat when he showed no intention of leaving after the morning meal was finished. And then when she stepped out of the building, who was there but Zelgadiss, waiting for her by his carriage. Lina was certain, as certain as she saw curtains swinging and shutters closing, that rumors about the Graywords family and her were going to be spreading faster than weeds.
"May I be informed as to where we are going, Mister Graywords?" she asked icily, arms crossed, eyes narrowed at her employer. She should have figured he'd want to come along. Just like the previous time. "I was under the impression you wanted this solved as quickly as possible."
"Oh but I do. That is why I insisted that we should be having you put on it. Rezo doesn't really care either way though I suppose he would agree about hiring someone well versed in magic and arcane knowledge."
Rezo was in a sense the patriarch of the Graywords family. If you didn't include the fact that his death was a matter of record, many many years back. After all, he was Zelgadiss's great-grandfather. Lina had discovered him back in that infamous first case and could understand why the man had chosen to stay hidden all of these years. His grandson Kitzero, Zelgadiss's uncle, was a dead-ringer for the old goat and Rezo didn't look a day past thirty. Even in these enlightened times, he'd probably be imprisoned for practicing dark magics.
"And we just can't let the city's finest take care of this, especially since they don't nearly have all of the information they would need to begin making some kind of plausible guess."
Yes, Lina sighed, this was every bit the problem with the gentry and the titled. They had an abhorrence with getting the local authorities involved in their businesses. After all, it would make the trouble available to public knowledge, and image and reputation were everything to them.
"You do have a sorcerer on retainer to your house you know. Name's Zolf, third rate rip-off but probably competent enough to take care of any your family's magical troubles if Rezo couldn't do it himself. Why hire an outsider?"
"Ah," Zelgadiss grinned, no smirked. "But you're not an outsider. You're more familiar with our family secrets than some of our oldest servants. Besides, mother would love to see you again."
She grimaced, and made no show in hiding it. If there was one thing she liked about being around Zelgadiss, at least in private and she'd never admit this out loud, was that she could just drop all of the pretenses that society insisted upon and be herself.
"So we're on the way to your townhouse?" Lina knew they weren't.
"No, to a sanatorium." He looked out the window. "We should be there in about half an hour."
A sanatorium? "What? Your family is finally convinced that they need to institutionalize you?"
"We have the only survivor of the ship there under observation."
"There weren't any..." Lina looked at his smug face, internally groaned, and switched tacks. "Why is he at a sanatorium?"
"Well, apparently he's lost his mind. The doctors believe it to be a result of being witness to such a horrifying occurrence."
She rolled her eyes at the calm, almost mundane way he was telling her this. Honestly, this man had no sensitivity at all. "And why may I ask, since I am working for your interests right now, is your family so concerned about this entire ship of dead sailors."
Zelgadiss could have taken the opportunity to twist the meaning behind Lina's words and enjoy another episode of her steaming with anger but really there were more important things to take care of. "As I said, Rezo has some interest in this, if only because some of the cargo on that ship was his, to be sent in care to the Graywords estate. The man we're going to visit was the one to whom we entrusted with the cargo's delivery."
If Rezo wanted something, it was probably going to be magical. Lina wondered if she could haggle in an additional clause to get a look at whatever those were first hand.
"So you think something Rezo wanted got loose and killed everyone on board?" Minus the loony they were going to visit. Though it was highly suspicious for him to be the only one left alive. Unless of course, he was the killer but she doubted that the Graywords would do something as dangerous as house a crazed mass murderer.
On the other hand, they were gentry and she just did not understand how their thought processes worked at times.
"Oh heavens no. If that was the case, we would just have killed him and be done with the entire mess."
She really didn't understand them, much less him or why he was even telling her this.
"Ah, here are the gates of the sanatorium."
"Ah, Mr. Graywords," greeted a doctor, pushing up his glasses at the sight of the gentleman. Then he caught sight of Zelgadiss's petite companion. "And Miss Inverse! I haven't seen you in ages, how have you been?"
Lina winced. Not because of the familiarity with which he greeted her or what that could imply. She was wincing because she could never get over how similar, no, how identical two people separated by two generations could be. This was Kitzero Graywords, a licensed doctor of chemistry and medicine, specializing apparently in psychiatry. No wonder they were able to admit the poor sap without too much fuss.
"Here to see our patient? He's better than last night, the blood-curdling screams have reduced to tearful wimpering. A vast improvement." He smiled, tapping his clipboard.
Lina wondered why everyone in this family always seemed to be smiling.
"This way," Kitzero gestured, leading them down the sterile hallway of the sanatorium. Behind several doors were muted shrieks and screams, causing Lina to wonder what exactly went on in those rooms. Staying near the two taller men offered dubious protection against her wild imagination.
"The man's name is Cedric Appleby. He had been following instructions to obtain some...exotic items for the family and was returning here by boat with the purchases. Considering that he and the cargo he was escorting were the only differences between previous cargo runs done by the boat, it is easy to assume that whatever happened is tied to that."
"Which is why," Lina gave Zelgadiss an exasperated look for finally revealing this information, "you kept his existence a secret. I'm not going to ask how you managed to do that with all of the ruckus that ship must have made at the docks. What about the cargo?"
"Oh, the authorities aren't suspicious about that yet. Appleby would have had them labeled as something innocent like foreign silks and such. No one would think to look at them for awhile yet and not certainly before our people come to claim what is rightfully ours."
"No doubt with Zolf there to 'verify' the contents." My gods, the amount of incriminating evidence she was learning from the mouth of the source. "And Appleby, what kind of name is Appleby??"
"At least it wasn't Applepie," Kitzero said blithely, oblivious the incredulous looks he was getting from the two. "He's a bit. . . wrapped up at the moment but quite sedate right now. You can step into his room to make what inquiries you wish. If he gets out of line, I'm sure Zel can take care of him." He patted Lina on the head as if she was a child and then unlocked the door.
"Yes, let's see what he has to say," Zelgadiss quickly said, guiding Lina rather forcefully through the door before she assaulted the doctor and become a patient herself. "Lovely décor."
It was of course a padded room and huddled in a corner was a trembling young man strapped in a straitjacket. Think of it like a young fawn trapped in a dead end by a mountain lion, or something to that effect. If this was an improvement, Lina wondered what kind of condition they found him in last night. And for that matter, how did the Graywords get him away from the 'scene of the crime'?
"Hey, what happened on the ship?" Lina cut straight to the chase. She was never one to take the cautious or subtle path, at least not when there was no obvious reason to do so. Something or someone killed everyone on the ship and she was hired to find out what or who. Plus, the longer the investigation went on, the more time she'd have to spend in the most gracious company of Zelgadiss. That would be enough to make her a permanent guest here.
Cedric Appleby took one look at Lina.
And screamed.
"Well, that wasn't very helpful."
They were riding away from the sanatorium, of course in Zelgadiss's carriage. Lina was in an even fouler mood than before. That lunatic went berserk after she asked that question, letting her see how exactly he was acting when he was brought in last night. They managed to pick out some words from his mad, frothing rambling. And what put Lina in the bad mood was that they were the same words that he had been spouting before and had already been transcribed by Kitzero.
The reason he hadn't shared that with them earlier was because they didn't ask. They only asked to see the patient. The poor doctor was now suffering from stomach pains that had nothing to do with what he's been eating recently.
"Oh, but I'm sure we're so much further than we were before." Lina wasn't sure if Zelgadiss was being sarcastic. He was looking at a copy of the notes his uncle had given him. "Hmmm, black wings, golden eyes, blood-sucking demon. There was something about the hair, blue or green or something equally light colored. Well, it does appear that there was a vampire on board."
"You need a specialized Hunter for that, not an investigator," she snorted. Hunters were like assassins in that they were killers for hire. Some would argue that assassins were Hunters, just Hunters who specialized in killing humans. One didn't always need to hire a Hunter if one wanted something killed, they were just generally the best at what they do.
"Oh I like our current arrangement just fine," he continued, apparently not having heard a word she said. "But I wonder what Rezo would want with a vampire? Or for that matter, how Appleby managed to convince one to come along. But if that was the case, then there would certainly be a coffin among the cargo wouldn't there? That would certainly blow this case out of the proverbial water."
She stared at him. "You aren't seriously considering that there really is a vampire out there do you? And that your great-grandfather invited him to come to the city??"
"Why? Is there another creature that matches the description? I will admit Appleby's testimony will have to be considered with a grain of salt. He wasn't exactly at his best when he gave it."
"You aren't disturbed by the fact that there may be a vampire running around in the city?"
Zelgadiss contemplated that for a second. "Well, it probably mean that Terisa will be flooded with invitations to attend parties and other social events as insurance against it. She'll be in a foul mood for quite a while. Sales of garlic, crosses, and vampire copper novels will sky rocket. Some new mysterious gentleman of class will appear in the social circles and everyone will be debating whether he's the vampire or not as noted beauties around the city will suddenly suffer from bouts of anemia."
Lina sweatdropped, what typical male thought. "And what if the vampire is female?"
"Then there will be many gentlemen suffering from anemia," he answered unperturbed. Then he frowned as an unpleasant thought came to him. "Unless of course her tastes swing in the other direction." The sweatdrop on Lina's head grew larger as he fixed his serious eyes on her. "It could be very dangerous for a person to be living alone, who knows what could happen."
Oh no, he was not suggesting that she...
"Absolute not, there is now way you're convincing me to stay at your townhouse again!" Lina had stayed there, way back when she first came to Saillune. Her father, worried about his little girl all alone by herself in the big bad city, never mind the fact that Zefeel was a respectably large city itself, had sent her to stay with some old family friends before striking it out on her own. Hence her deep familiarity with the Graywords family.
"Stay at my...? Oh heavens no, I wasn't about to suggest that."
No? Then what...
"You are not staying at my flat!"
He blinked, far too innocently. "Why, I'd never even thought of that..." Lina was sure his nose grew by an inch or two. "I was only going to say that you should be very cautious during this investigation. Vampires are not like the run-of-the-mill cutthroat or street thug, especially not the ancient ones."
Lina felt something catch in her throat. Was he actually...concerned about her?
"It would look terrible to have you killed in the midst of the case. I'm not sure we'd be able to get someone else to work for us after that."
She felt like a load of bricks had fallen on her head and the teacher had crowned her with a dunce cap. Of course he'd be more worried about the family's societal reputation. Their eccentricity excused them from a number of things, killings and other non-law-abiding activities were not among them.