The Storm King

“That was exciting, wasn’t it?” Narses the Black said as he joined Leon’s retinue next to Leon’s carriage, the corpses of the slain vampires scattered all around them.

Leon thinly smiled at Narses and his five powerful followers. Anna was still obviously disturbed, and even took a few steps backward, away from Narses.

Fortunately, it seemed that Narses either didn’t notice or didn’t care.

“It was… something, all right,” Leon neutrally replied.

“Indeed,” Gaius added as he took up position at Leon’s shoulder, Marcus and Alix following suit a moment later. It seemed that Leon wasn’t the only one who noticed Anna’s strange behavior.

Righting himself, Leon quickly stated diplomatically, “Thank you for your assistance, Narses. Dealing with vampires is never pleasant, and anyone who can shoulder a little of that burden is welcome.”

“Nonsense,” Narses said as he waved his hand dismissively—if he were disturbed at how defensive Leon’s retainers were being, he didn’t let on. “Just a little professional courtesy between fellow members of Heaven’s Eye. It may be Narses the White’s job to keep the peace, but peace is a duty that falls upon all of us. Everyone one of us would look—”

Cutting Narses off, Anna stepped forward and bluntly asked, “Who are you?”

Narses blinked in surprise as his focus shifted from Leon to Anna. “I am Narses, often called ‘the Black’. Who might you be?” As he introduced himself, he ran his hands through his jet black hair, the eponymous trait that distinguished him from the platinum blond Narses the White.

Anna stared at him for a long moment before glancing back at Leon, then tersely replying, “No one.” Without another word, she turned around and walked back behind Leon, seemingly shielding herself from Narses’ eyes.

“All… right…” Narses whispered as his eyes narrowed slightly. “You have interesting taste in employees, Leon…”

Leon grunted in acknowledgement as his magic senses swept over their surroundings. It had barely been five minutes since his carriage had been ambushed, but large teams of Heaven’s Eye security forces were already closing in on their position, with many powerful mages leading them. Leon figured they would’ve arrived by now if his ambushers hadn’t had an eighth-tier and several seventh-tier mages amongst them, which necessitated a stronger response from Heaven’s Eye’s security forces than what was likely on call.

As Leon watched them close in, Gaius picked up some of Leon’s slack in the conversation and cynically observed, “Good thing you were so close to us. Who knows how that might’ve ended had you not been here.”

“I’m sure you would’ve been fine,” Narses unflappably responded. “That last leech wouldn’t have troubled you any, I’m sure.”

“We can never be sure when it comes to vampires, can we?” Gaius asked.

“I suppose not. In that case, I’ll happily accept your thanks!”

Leon wasn’t sure he remembered Gaius ever thanking Narses, but he supposed his own courtesy ‘thanks’ could be enough to represent his entire group. Regardless, he agreed with Gaius’ subtext that it was suspicious as the most devious of the hells that Narses had been so close. Leon hadn’t even realized that he’d been nearby—though, to be fair, wards that block magic senses were ubiquitous in the Ilian Empire. It was soconvenient that the man had been right here…

‘Need to have a chat Anna…’ Leon thought to himself. ‘She absolutely knows more about this guy than she’s telling me…’

Before their ever-more strained conversation could limp on, a squad of Heaven’s Eye security forces finally arrived, flying in using half a dozen of Leon’s flight belts. They soon took over the situation, and Leon was happy enough to let them see to the investigation. For now, he had his own matters to see to…

---

“So,” Leon said as he and Anna walked into his study, having just returned from the auction and subsequent ambush, “is everything all right? You seemed a little out of sorts when Narses showed up.”

Anna frowned and paced around his study, flexing her fingers. Her aura was wild and chaotic, showing her mental state in a way that Leon could practically see.

“I…” she murmured. “I know him. Knew him…”

“I take it this was before you and Helen moved to Attica?”

She nodded. “We were young, then. Our… parents were still… still here.”

It was Leon’s turn to nod. “I remember you mentioning that a while back. Your parents were… they died due to vampires, I recall?”

“Yes. I didn’t know it at the time. It wasn’t until a family friend told us about it that…” She choked up a bit, and Leon walked over, hesitated a moment, then laid a hand on her shoulder. He almost pulled her into a hug, but that was a bridge too far.

Anna didn’t agree, for a moment later, she threw herself into his arms and let out a loud sob as she buried her face into his shoulder. Feeling a little awkward, Leon stood there and gently wrapped his arms around his retainer and waited. Anna being Anna, he didn’t have to wait too long before she pulled away, her composure rapidly returning.

“Sorry,” she whispered.

“Don’t worry about that. Take your time, tell me when or if you’re ready.”

She smiled and took another couple of minutes to solidify her demeanor. “What do you remember me telling you?” she asked, her tone still a little shaky, but otherwise seemingly recovered.

“The Evergolden ambassador to Ilion when we first arrived in this Empire was an old family friend of yours. She told you that your parents’ deaths were caused by vampires. Other than that, I don’t really have any details.”

“She continued her investigation,” Anna explained a little sheepishly. “She’s kept me and Helen in the loop. She narrowed her list of suspects down to a small handful, but most of them have either been promoted or otherwise reassigned far away from the Sacred Golden Empire, so her investigation stalled. One of those she labeled a suspect was a man named Casimir, one of my mother’s secretaries.”

She paused, appearing to wait for his reaction.

“All right,” he said after a moment. “I’m a little put-out that you were keeping that from me, but I understand that you might’ve wanted to keep it private. So, this ‘Casimir’. You think Narses is Casimir?”

“I know he is,” Anna resolutely said, looking a little relieved that Leon wasn’t angry at her for keeping her family friend’s investigation a secret. “I remember him from when I was young. He was one of my mother’s secretaries, someone who was often around our estate. After he… after her death, many of our possessions went missing, highly valuable items that represented a large proportion of our family’s—admittedly rather insignificant compared to yours—wealth. The possessions were stolen, of that no one was in doubt, and Casimir definitely would’ve had opportunity to take them—perhaps the most opportunity out of anyone.”

“Why point to him, though? What about the other suspects?”

“They stuck around the Sacred Golden Empire for a time,” Anna explained. “Casimir vanished almost immediately after my parent’s m… murders. And like I said, now that I’ve seen his face and heard his voice, I remember him!”

Leon took a deep breath. Her story was shaky and if he were of a mind to, he felt like he could poke all kinds of holes in it. However, he trusted her. She was an eighth-tier mage, so her memory wasn’t nearly as faulty as that of a mortal, at the very least. And besides, the idea that ‘Narses’ was shady wasn’t exactly novel; he’d been acting strangely since Leon first laid eyes on him before the auction.

After a moment of thought, Leon asked, “Vampires, then. How do vampires fit into all of this?”

“It was vampires who… did it,” Anna clarified. “There were witnesses who attested to this. Casimir wasn’t among the vampires, but our current assumptions are that he was involved in no small way. The vampires were able to bypass our estate’s security and escape otherwise undetected. They had to have had insider information.”

“No possibility that they were simply good enough to get in?” Leon asked, arguing just to see her answer.

“Not with the power they showed off. Besides, we didn’t have anything valuable enough to attract those strong enough to bypass our security.”

“Or so you were aware,” Leon said. When Anna looked a little upset, he added, “I’m not saying I don’t believe you, all I’m saying is that we clearly don’t have the full picture. But something’s definitely up with Narses, and I’m going to look into it. If he’s involved with vampires in any way…”

“Leon,” Anna firmly said, pulling him out of his thoughts, “when—or if—you go after Narses, I want in. He murdered my parents the same as if he slit their throats himself. Helen won’t approve much, she just wants to live peacefully; but I can’t stand the idea of our parents’ murderers walking free. If you’re going after Casimir…”

Leon nodded, seeing a bit of himself reflected in her stalwart, quietly furious gaze. “I understand. So long as you can keep a cool head if we have to do anything… delicate, then you’ll be with me.”

Anna beamed in response.

“For now,” Leon continued, “let’s just focus on gathering some information on Narses and keep an eye out for any further moves from him. It’s clear enough that he wants my attention, and quite possibly wants me indebted to him for some reason. I’d rather have him dead-to-rights before he makes any bigger moves.”

Left unstated was the fact that Narses was still a member of Heaven’s Eye. Leon had thought that the guild had been thoroughly de-vamped, but if he found out that the Director had been hiding another vampire from him…

At the very least, he felt like he had a good place to start his investigation.

---

“Congratulations on your ascension,” the Director stated good-naturedly.

Leon, suppressing his impatience and mild suspicion, stood before the Director’s desk with his arms crossed. It was early in the morning, but he wasn’t at all surprised that the Director was already in his office working. The Director hadn’t given him any real reason to suspect he’d been deceptive during the last five years, so he was inclined to believe that he had nothing to do with the ambush several hours ago, but still…

“There was an incident last night,” Leon said.

“I heard,” the Director replied as he stood up from his chair and walked around to the front of his desk, as he’d done every time he and Leon had met in the past five years. It was a small thing, but it was one that Leon appreciated. “Nasty business. Narses is personally looking into what happened.”

A dangerous smile spread across Leon’s face. “Which one?”

The Director gave him a blank look.

“The Black or the White?”

With a smile of understanding, the Director answered, “The White. Seems after all that… unpleasantness years ago, he’s taken on quite a personal hatred for the creatures. Can’t say I blame him, and given my own shameful part in it, I’ve given him license to do what he feels he must to root out any signs of vampiric corruption within our ranks.”

“Trust him that much, do you?”

“I trust him with the guild.”

“Well, then. It’s good to se that you’re so motivated to see an end to this menace.” Leon grinned and gave the Director a meaningful look. He hadn’t been all that demanding over the past five years, mostly content to let the Director do what he did without any interference. They were partners, but that didn’t mean Leon had to have a say in absolutely everything that went on in Heaven’s Eye. However, one area where Leon was demanding was vampires. “I have something that may be related that I wanted to look into…”

Leon then brought up what happened with Narses the Black, and while the Director had already heard that Narses had been involved in the fight at the end, the addition of his provocative behavior during the auction and Anna’s suspicions had the Director frowning by the end of Leon’s explanation.

“That is concerning…” the Director murmured.

“He’s one of yours,” Leon said. “That means looking into his affairs is a difficult thing to do.”

“It isn’t, really,” the Director replied. “His powers are limited. As a regional inspector, he acts as one of my Eyes, not my Hands. That means he watches the Tower Lords and other high-ranking members of Heaven’s Eye, but he has no real power over them. He simply informs me of what he sees, and occasionally makes recommendations.”

“And that makes him easier to look into?”

“Very much so. Without the authority of one of my Hands, while he has influence, he doesn’t quite have the power to hide from any other Eyes or Hands I turn in his direction.”

“Good. I want to know everything about him. His history, any aliases he used in the past, where he was born, his favorite color, everything.”

“I’ll get right on it,” the Director said.

“Mm. Thanks.”

---

With the Director on it, Leon didn’t think that there was much more he needed to do in regard to Narses the Black. However, he made sure to warn both Narses the White and Emilie about his suspicions about the man, though he made sure that they knew he was dangerous.

As almost an aside, while he was with Emilie, he made sure to give her one of his two spare Hesperidic Apples, to her immense delight. In fact, the only thing he thought he could give her that would’ve brought her more joy would’ve been grandchildren.

Once that was over, he made his way to his own office in his branch’s Tower, where he spent a few hours knocking out some of the work he couldn’t delegate. However, he was only partway through it when a knock came at his door, and after he called for it to be opened, the stark white face of Anzu appeared.

“Anzu!” Leon shouted with glee as his griffin-in-human-form slowly walked into his office.

Anzu nodded, then contorted his lips a few times and said slowly, enunciating every syllable, “Bro…therrrr…”

Without hesitation, Leon got up from his desk and came around to clap Anzu on the shoulder. His human form had gotten something of a make-over, courtesy of Elise and Alix. As both stated, his looks were too good to waste looking like some wild barbarian.

Leon wasn’t sure exactly how to take that, if he were honest.

As a result, Anzu’s long hair had been cut into a fairly short, though still exceptionally stylish, length, and had been dressed in tight clothes dyed silver that had been trimmed in bright blue. His clothes showed off his lithe, athletic body without actually showing off much skin, and Leon had to admit that Anzu pulled off the look of a well-built pretty boy quite well.

“What brings you here?” Leon asked, noting that Anzu had come alone.

“Exploring…” Anzu slowly stated. However, a moment later, his red eyes widened for a second and he pulled out a letter from his soul realm. “Narses…” he said in explanation as he handed the letter to Leon.

With a deep frown, Leon took the letter. He knew which Narses had sent it, as he’d just spoken to the White not even two hours before and the Chief of Security hadn’t mentioned anything about a letter then.

Opening it, Leon lightly scowled in suspicion as he scanned the letter’s contents.

Narses had ‘done some digging’ of his own, and discovered the location of a blood farm. He now invited Leon to join him in destroying it.

---

“This is a trap,” Valeria firmly stated.

Leon glanced at her. She’d been awkward around him since her request, but now that they had something that needed their serious attention, she’d put all of that behind her to focus on the task at hand. Leon took only that moment to admire his lady before doing likewise.

“I’m about ninety-nine percent in agreement,” Leon replied. “There’s always the possibility that it isn’t a trap, but…”

“Let’s be real here,” Alix said, “this is a fucking trap.”

Leon glanced around at his family and retinue. All seemed in agreement. In particular, his eyes landed on Valentina, the only one present not an official member of his retinue. Despite this, given her connections with the vampires, Leon had brought her in on his strategy meeting for consultation.

“If Narses is who I think he is,” Valentina said, “then Alix is right, this is a trap.”

“You don’t know who you were working with?” Marcus asked, disbelief dripping from his voice.

“Vampires aren’t known for being trusting,” Valentina replied. “Besides, a researcher in deep cover doesn’t have much opportunity to interact with anyone, let alone one of the Director’s Eyes. I know other powerful vampires by sight, but not by name alone.”

“If you got a look at Narses, then, you’d know if he is or isn’t a vampire?” Valeria asked.

“No,” Valentina replied. “Or, not necessarily, I suppose. If I’ve met him before, then yes. If he’s unfamiliar to me and he’s hiding his nature, then there won’t be much I can do.”

Leon nodded and asked, “Would you be willing to come with us, then? Assuming I decide we should join this operation to destroy this blood farm?”

When Valentina nodded, Leon wasn’t too surprised; she’d given Narses the White plenty of information on vampire movements not long after signing on with Xaphan and successfully abandoning her vampirism.

“How should we play this, then?” Alcander wondered aloud. “I’m not comfortable just ignoring this, but if it’s a trap then walking into it would be about as smart as putting your head in a lion’s mouth.”

“The simplest way to reveal a trap is to spring it,” Marcus disagreed, drawing incredulous looks from all around the room. “I’m serious. If we know it’s a trap, then we can plan ahead for it. And if we spring it, then we can spring a counter-trap.”

“It’s not a bad strategy,” Gaius agreed. “How well it works will depend on the situation we find ourselves in. The terrain, the numbers we’ll have available, our enemy’s own awareness level. Anyone as highly-ranked as Narses is could very well be tipped off if we don’t play our cards close to our chest.”

“If we’re walking into a trap,” Anna said, her voice intense and laced with hate, “then we should bring a whole spirits-damned army! Crush them underfoot like the insects they are!”

“If they see an army coming, then they won’t sit still and wait to be crushed,” Valeria pointed out.

“If we move quickly enough, they won’t have a chance to react,” Anna countered. “Just bring Narses in and we can handle everything else from there.”

“It’s a hard thing to bring someone in without proof,” Leon mused. “That tiny chance that everything’s on the up-and-up can make such things hard to swallow for anyone we might bring in. I think it might even be a hard thing for some in this room. I’m of a mind with Marcus; let’s give Narses enough rope to hand himself with. If this is a trap, then we’ll be ready. If it isn’t, then we destroy a blood farm. Win-win in my book.”

“Hear hear!” Alcander shouted.

“We should have a more concrete strategy, then,” Valeria said. “Who we might bring in, because I don’t think we should limit ourselves to just us. As powerful as we’ve become…”

“… who knows what powers the vampires might have?” Gaius finished as he warmly smiled at her.

Valeria gave Gaius a friendly nod, then said to Leon, “We’re ready for whatever you decide.”

“All right,” Leon said. “Then here’s what I want to have happen…”