They found themselves in front of a nice looking home on Kensington.
Kalvin walked up the steps and pushed the doorbell. The muffled song of bells and chimes could be heard on the outside. Val adjusted his uniform and pin then stood straight. He felt jittery, could this girl be the culprit? And even if she wasn't, could she give them any useful piece of information?
He was still contemplating this when the door opened up to reveal a young lady probably in her early twenties. She had wide anxious eyes which examined each of them.
"Are you the Investigators?" She asked.
"We're actually trick-or-treaters." Symon muttered sarcastically, Val almost laughed but he wanted to stay on Kalvin's good side, so he held it in.
"Yes Miss Jenner and we are here to inquire about your friend, Rachel." Kalvin explained.
"There's nothing much, she was at the part one minute, the next she said she was leaving. The only reason I'm the one who filed the report was because I found her bag on the road on my way home, from there I was led to the alley where I saw the men and pieces of her clothes." Her eyes had glazed over, "The evil presence I felt there that night was simply horrible, and Rachel, poor Rachel..."
"This really isn't something to be discussing outdoors, can we come in?" Symon said.
She nodded between sniffs and opened the door wider, "You look a bit young to be doing this."
"Let's not get into that."
She led the three boys inside. Val studied the interior, it seemed like a pretty simple house; the walls were painted a light shade of blue, the furniture was plain but comfy looking and the windows were wide allowing the little light left of the day to filter in.
A picture on a shelf not far from where she leading them caught his attention. Those in the picture were Edna, a man and a woman who looked well into their fifties, two young boys and another girl who was probably Edna's age."Do you live with anyone else?" He asked.
Edna gestured to the dining area where they all took seats. "Yes, my father's a wizard, he owns a potions store in York, he's not always home. My mother's a human dressmaker and my two brothers are at a boarding school. I go to a university not far from here."
"And the other girl in the picture?" Kalvin asked.
"That would be Rachel." She spoke the name quietly, "I really don't know what to make of it, she wasn't Magick, I can swear on that. She was a normal girl, how could she..."
"It was someone's plan, Miss, and that's what you're going to help us figure out." Symon said, he was looking at her without much interest.
The young woman rubbed at her eyes, "I don't know what else to say, she got the necklace that night at the party, it was from a guy, I don't know him but she said she'd met him online and they hit it off. I guess it was their first time meeting in person."
"Common human mistake, taking gifts from strangers you met online." Symon scoffed sounding a little amused.
"Continue, Miss Jenner." Kalvin urged, his fist clenching in irritation.
"Rachel told me she was getting a headache so she left the party early. That's the last I saw of her."
"And this guy, the one she met online?" Val asked.
"He left right after she did."
"He must have followed her while chanting the unlocking incant." Kalvin deduced, "Do have a description?"
"We were at a club you see, the lights weren't very bright but I'm sure he had black hair, he was fairly tall and since I could see through magick disguises, I could see he had a scorpion's tail meaning he was an Animal in human form."
"This sounds like a tough one." Symon groaned.
Val understood that in the Magick society Animalia who transformed into humans had to keep some form of their animal attributes so they wouldn't be mistaken for wizards and witches. What Edna had just said made them immediately remove her from the the suspect list as she was as human witch.
"Anything else Miss Jenner?" Kalvin questioned, his gaze piercing.
She shook her head. They all stood up and she escorted the boys to the exit, "Um... please I have a question...was Rachel really possessed, and if she was...is there a way to get her back?"
"That depends." Symon shrugged.
Val was surprised to hear that, the way they had spoken about it during their research made it seem like Rachel Dean was beyond help. "Depends on what Sy?"
"On how strong her will is when we're trying to reseal the Queen, if she's determined to stay alive, she'll live. If not... let's just catch that bitch on time, she'll be fine if we do that."
"I wish you good luck." Edna called as they left her front door.
Kalvin pulled out a small crystal ball, large enough to rest in his palm, a few taps and it was alive with a soft light. "Doctor Raima, are you there?"
It took a few seconds but soon the woman's voice could be heard, "I'm here, any issues?"
"Awesome! Can I get one of those?" Val gawked.
"They cost more than phones." Symon replied.
Kalvin went on talking with the Doctor, "Doctor please we need you to get information from the Rachel Dean's phone, check all her contacts, there's someone she agreed to meet with at the party, the profile picture might be helpful."
"If you say so, I'll hand it over to the unit in charge."
He tucked away his crystal ball and turned to the other two, "Now we wait."
Symon raised an eyebrow in disbelief before slowly walking backwards, "You do that, I've got bigger fish to fry."
Kalvin quickly flared at that, "No, you don't. I have a higher rank which means you must obey me-"
"But I don't want to." The cat hissed before dashing off.
Val waved apologetically to Kalvin, "Sorry mate, but he's my best friend." He then ran after Symon.
They had been jogging for a while now, Val was getting breathless.
He glanced back occasionally only to find Kalvin was still not following, them. Jeez the guy must really have meant it when he said they'd wait. He turned his focus back to Symon who was racing ahead, taking turns without so much as a second glance at which direction they were headed.
"Where are we going Sy?" He asked once he was finally at the other's side.
"I honestly don't want to care but I just have to step in if this dumb agency doesn't know what to do." He said as they continued jogging again, turns out he was just giving Val a quick break. "Lamia is weak right now, she's trying to track her two brothers. If she's not totally dumb as dirt from lack of blood, she'd go for the strongest one."
"Egeaus?"
"Exactly. I checked his schedule and right now he should be at the Reigns Showclub."
"So what are we going to do when we find him? I'm sure you're not suggesting that just the two of us make off with him and try to protect him, right?"
"Of course not you idiot, you have the calling remote for the Travelator, we can use it to take him to headquarters."
Val had to admit, that was a pretty genius plan, he smirked, "Then let's do it."
It was a heck of a trip but they finally made it to the club, Symon gestured for Val to follow him and they both made their way to the back of the club. Symon made a shush gesture and Val kept quiet.
They waited until the sound of the door opening was heard. Symon dashed out, placed a hand on the worker's mouth to hush them before lightly pinching the side of the person's neck.
The young lady collapsed onto the bag of trash she was taking out.
"Sometimes, I'm afraid of you." Val whispered as they went in.
"I'll teach you how to do that once we're done here."
Soon they were out of the back rooms and inside the main night club. Val was taken in awe by the bright UV lights of several colors. Stage was a show of women dancing on ropes in flashy clothes with colors of an dreamy sunset. People walked around in nice, expensive looking outfits themselves and the music fit the flashy atmosphere perfectly. He hoped the magic around his uniform didn't make him look like he was dressed out of place.
"Quit staring, kid, we've got to hurry because we both look too young to be here."
Val reeled his mind back in. "Right, right...let's find Thornhold." He conjured up the image he had seen in the files, but people could change in 500+ years so finding their guy might be difficult than he anticipated.
"Stick with me and try not to get dragged off."
"I'm not a baby, Sy." He huffed.
"You sure?"
Their argument carried on for well over thirty minutes and Val was pretty sure they had searched the whole ground floor by then.
"Maybe he's gotten a special room." He suggested to Symon.
"He's close by I can smell him."
That made zero sense and Val was about to call him out on it when Symon dragged him over to a VIP booth. There they could see a man who looked to be in his early forties. Several women were on either side of him and he seemed to be doing a good job entertaining all of them. He laughed and they all followed suit looking completely enchanted.
Probably because they were.
"Egeaus! Eggie! Buddy!" Symon shouted loudly, he punched the guard in the neck and the man collapsed. He ignored the gasps of horror from those who witnessed it. Val's anxiety came back in full force, he was beginning to see signs of this going terribly wrong, what if this Vampire didn't believe them and Symon sparked a fight with his forward behavior.
"Do I know you?" Egeaus asked.
"I might not be a cat anymore but my energy should still feel the same." Symon said acting disheartened.
Egeaus sensing this was probably magick related sent the women away, it was only then a spark of recognition flashed in his eyes, "Reiner? No way in bloody hell, what happened, old friend?"
"Long story, short version is that your sister's back." Symon said laughing a little.
Egeaus chuckled too, "You and your jokes, boy."
"Its funny, I know but honest to the Supreme beings, your blood thirsty sister has possessed a host and is heading for you."
Val watched as Egeaus' already white skin became paler.
"But how?! They said she'd be locked away forever...this can't be!"
"I'm sorry Mr Thornhold, but Symon is right." Val came in, "We don't know where she is or how long we have left but if we can get you to our headquarters it'll be difficult for her to follow."
"She's going to kill us all!" Egeaus said bolt up from his seat suddenly.
"Don't be over dramatic. She needs both you and the other one for a full recharge, if we keep you away long enough for us to catch her, we'll all be alright."
Val was just about to agree with that when a cold sensation ran down his spine, alerting him that things were about to go very, very wrong.
Fortunately for him, that feeling was right. Unfortunately it was way too late.
A long hard object curled around his waist and he found himself flung across the room, crashing through several glass barricades.
"This came sooner than I thought." Symon muttered in irritation.
Val forced himself to sit up despite the pain. He kept reminding himself that he had taken worse blows from Mika. Man that guy could punch, but still getting flung through glass was a whole new experience.
He looked up to see his attacker. A young man probably around twenty, dark hair rested in front of his snake like eyes and he had a scorpion's tail trailing behind him. A cigarette emitting faint whisps of purple smoke was held between his smirking lips.
"Look what the cat dragged in, an Investigator...or perhaps it's the other way round." The man chuckled.
Val could hear screaming from all around him, footsteps ran past him and made their way to the door, at least the people were getting out of harms way. That and this stranger not being interested in hurting them already made him feel a little more at ease.
"I'm guessing you're behind what happened to Rachel Dean?" He asked standing properly once again, he took a stance and got to work on making an energy sphere. He'd see how good this guy was first.
"The name's Dread, and let's say she's running a little test for us." The Animal-human chuckled.
"Val your remote!" Symon yelled from the other end of the room.
Oh right. He quickly threw the sphere, it's light emitting a blinding glare. When Dread was able to see again, his three targets were gone. He smiled to himself, he'd give them a while. He took a drag from his cigarette and looked down at the little object his tail had snagged.
A little remote, how cute.