Chương 22: Chapter 21 - A Conference Between Darius and Death

After Darius finished his report, Jacky stood up from his study desk and went over to the window. The vampire stayed seated. Jack Noctis stared out the window whenever he wanted to think. They had worked together long enough, Darius knew most of Jacky's habits, even if Big Jacky swore he didn't have any.

"What did Detective Moran think of the situation?" Jacky asked.

"He's almost as confused as we are," Darius said.

"Lucky for him, he can reasonably assume the theft has nothing to do with the murder. That's not something we can do."

"It makes no sense. If Wayde's soul is missing because of the scroll, why wasn't it stolen when he was murdered? If the scroll wasn't involved, why steal it at all?"

"There's a lot we don't know, Jacky. Things should become clearer the more we learn." Noctis turned to look at Darius.

"Are we certain the two incidents are connected?"

"Certain? No. It's hard to imagine the scroll being there was only a coincidence, but we have to keep an open mind." Jacky gazed back at the window. The vampire could see his skull reflected on the pane.

"The problem with this situation isn't the abundance of suspects," Jacky noted, "it's that there are so few of them and none of them make sense. The only thing we can know with reasonable certainty is that magic was involved. How else could the soul go missing?"

"And Aubert is the only magician who's close to the case," Darius said.

"But I can't imagine he'd have a motive. The scroll would be worthless to him—" The vampire stopped when he saw Jacky's long, bony finger swaying back and forth like a metronome.

"He's the only known magician," Jacky said.

"I suppose there's the torrmen—""I wasn't speaking of the torrmen. Follow the logic, Darius. Magic must have been involved. Is it more likely that Aubert had some motive we can't guess at, or that there's a magician involved that we don't know about? Possibly a thrismage."

"I don't know. They both seem equally unlikely."

"And yet we know there are magicians in this world that never find their way into the Torr's paperwork." Jacky turned.

"Did Emerra see anything?" Darius shook his head.

"When she saw the body?"

"She said it looked empty."

"Doesn't a dead body…normally…look empty? After all, it is empty." The vampire shrugged.

"I would say they look dead. I wouldn't normally say they look lonely."

"Lonely?" Darius glanced up at Jacky's unreadable face.

"Emerra said that?" Vasil nodded.

"That's interesting." Jacky, once again, turned to the window. Five seconds, Darius thought, then he'll sit down at his desk and start giving directions…three…two… Jacky moved away from the window, pulled out his chair, and sat down at his desk. He leaned forward.

"We must do something."

"Jacky, we all want to find out what happened—""No, Darius." The vampire fell silent.

"You're human—or human enough. There are billions of you, all with enough similarities that you can empathize and connect. Your interest in this matter is born from that sympathy. But I'm death. No one shares my nature. No one else can sense the wrongness of it the way I do, like running a rasp down your exposed spine. It drives me to stop it, the way pain drives you to pull your hand away from a hot stove. But far too often, there's nothing I can do."

Jacky's voice had remained level, but there was an intensity behind his words that Vasil rarely heard. The force of it bent around the vampire's body. Noctis went on, "I've lost souls before, and I have no doubt more will be lost in the future. In a world as chaotic as ours, it's inevitable. But this time I have the resources and opportunity to do something about it. Our highest priority is finding out what happened to Wayde's soul, and preventing it from ever happening again."

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it. At first, all Darius could do was jerk his head in a stiff nod. Then his tongue loosened.

"I understand."

"The scroll is only important as it relates to that. Did you get a chance to read it before it was taken?" The vampire gazed at Jacky with a lopsided smile.

"No. I suppose not," Noctis grumbled.

"Did you get any pictures?"

"I've already sent a copy of the photo to Iset, but it was only the first part of the scroll. We don't know how much information it'll have."

"Then we need to recover the scroll, if only to learn whether or not it was involved. Is there any way to tell if some other magic might have been used?"

"I was already planning on bringing in a magician to see if they can sense any magic in the house."

"Which magician?"

"My first choice was Uhler, but he's out of town for a few days. I'll bring him in when I can, but I've asked Olivia to come with me tomorrow." Jacky was still for a moment. Then he nodded.

"That should be adequate. As long as Emerra's there."

"Do you have any other suggestions?"

"Find the magician. If it isn't Aubert, find out who it is. If we can't find the scroll, then we can try to find the person who used it."

"If it was the scroll that was used."

"I would also like you to send me a list of all the people connected to the case."

"Why?"

"If any of them die, I intend to be there as soon as possible. When things like this happen, they never happen only once."

"I understand. Is there anything else, Mr. Noctis?"

"No, but thank you for keeping me informed." Darius stood up. He moved toward the door, but then he snapped his fingers and turned back.

"Ah, yes! To keep you informed—I created a new contact in your phone. It's Emerra's number."

"Emerra has a phone?"

"I thought it'd be prudent to get her one."

"Good."

"I also took your phone off silent for you."

"Oh… err. Thank you." Darius nodded, then sauntered out the door. Without a break in his step, he crossed the hall, entered the library, and returned to Iset. She was still at the table they had rigged together. They had pushed the second library desk up against hers and gathered a few side tables and end tables to add to the edges. Several stacks of papers were already scattered around the imperfect top. Iset was in front of her laptop with a tablet, more paper, and several pens beside her.

She didn't look up when Darius came in, and she still didn't look up when he dropped himself into the chair across from her.

"I can't decide if the directions Jacky gives are impossible or useless," Darius announced. Iset moved a paper.

"Or both?"

"What if they're neither?"

"They're probably at least one of the two, or I doubt you'd be complaining about them."

"Maybe I'm annoyed because they're so obvious, and yet Jacky seems to think he has to point them out to me."

"Hmmm. You don't seem like the kind of person who'd waste time thinking of impossible and useless directions. Perhaps that's why Jacky felt like he had to tell you."

"Have I ever told you how much I appreciate the fact you think the best of others?"

"It makes a nice contrast to your own mindset, doesn't it?"

"That's one of the hazards of living my life. You tend to become a bit jaded." Darius paused.

"How's the translation coming?"

"Not well." Iset sat back in her chair and sighed.

"This will take longer than I thought."

"Was it written in Late Egyptian?"

"It was, but that doesn't mean it'll be easy."

"I thought—""I know what you thought, and I promise I'll get you an accurate translation, but it's like expecting a modern English speaker to translate Chaucer's handwritten manuscript when they haven't actually read English in over a thousand years! I'm going to be rusty at it."

"I'm sorry, Iset. I didn't mean to pressure you." The mummy closed her laptop.

"I know. It's all right. I'm more frustrated with the work than anything else."

"Have you had any time to do research?"

"That's one of the joys of needing so little rest. I have plenty of time." Iset reached over the closer papers to grab the stack behind them.

"I printed out the file that Ashworth sent me, but I can save you some time by telling you that Joel Aubert has never shown any talent or inclination toward being a thrismage, and nothing in his background would indicate that he'd be able to read Egyptian." She passed Darius the papers.

"I'm less worried about the translation," he said. He glanced over the first page.

"We're dealing with a case full of anthropologists. Someone should have been able to translate the scroll or knew someone who could."

"It might be worth trying to find out who."

"You think they might be involved?"

"I think you could ask them for the translation, then I wouldn't have to do it."

"What are all these rankings?"

"That's Quicade's system. They use it to help match their sorcerers to their most promising field of study."

"Do these numbers seem low to you?"

"They are low. Aubert's natural talents are limited. He can only sense a magic object if he's touching it, and he can't sense or see active magic unless he's the one casting it."

"He mentioned that."

"His power isn't impressive either."

"Great." Darius tossed the papers on the desk.

"So even if he did have the faith, he probably wouldn't have had the power to use the scroll. How did he graduate?"

"As far as I can tell, through sheer passion. What he lacked in practical ability, he made up for in his study and development of theory."

"What about the other suspects?"

"We can't find any trace of them through the Torr. If they're magicians, we don't know it, and there's a chance they might not know it."

"Iset, is there any way to sense if someone's a thrismage?"

"No. I'm afraid it's not like looking for a witch. A person sensitive to magic would feel when they're using their power, but otherwise…" The mummy shook her head.

"And there's no spell we can use?"

"No." Darius leaned back in his chair and rubbed his forehead.

"So I can't find the magician."

"Not easily. Was that one of the obvious, impossible, useless directions Jacky gave you?" The count nodded.

"What were the others?"

"He wants to know what happened. He wants us to find the scroll or find out what's on it, and he wants to know if the soul is missing because of something else."

"That last one, at least, should be doable."

"Only if the murderer was kind enough to leave behind traces of magic or the object he used. If he took it all with him, we won't know."

"Ah." The vampire took a deep breath and sat up.

"I suppose that means I'll have to take on the first impossible task and try to find out what happened." He grabbed the nearest file.

"Means, motive, opportunity?" Iset said.

"It's what I know how to do. We'll go by the book and follow the leads."