Orison stood speechless but right before Herne"s predatory grin spread fully across his face, the young mage said, "Who would spare a worthless dog who"d already bared fangs at you once. Your "usefulness" was only balance against the risk of you turning to bite the hand that feeds you. Your very actions today justify that much...

"Look at that man right over there and tell me I am only motivated by cold calculation. Remember back to the day I defeated you at the cost of my own life so that my friends would be spared and try to accuse me of that again! Swallow the rest of your dog sh*t excuses back down. Either you"re the honorable lord hunter you claim to be or you"re a clown playing pretend to borrow power and prestige that belongs to something you don"t actually have the ability to EVER be."

Herne staggered, looking as if he had taken a dagger to the guts before dropping to a knee. While Orison looked at Herne in confusion, a small portion of the hunter"s "realness" broke free and merged with the young mage.

Head bowed with a weak smile on his face, Herne said, "What you have just engaged in was a type of greater fey challenge, my lord. Your heritage is pure enough to concern yourself with such proceedings. Mine greater reflection is n.o.ble enough that I might borrow against it to teach. For certs tis only one way to learn and that is to experience. I hope this knowledge serves you well."

Looking at Herne skeptically, Orison said, "You did all of that to teach me how to argue another fey to death?"

Herne replied, "To the death? Mayhaps but only the death of the idea not true death. Tis close enough to mortal"s understanding of what death is... My lord has many questions I am certain but even now, my lord"s barrow dulls with new shade stone."

Orison hurriedly ushered Herne back inside. Despite being in pain and displaying signs of weariness, the first thing Herne did was go and propose a walk through his new domain to Orison"s "garden maid". Belatedly, Orison realized that in the heat of the moment, he"d basically given Herne the right to pester her as much as the hunter wanted so long as she didn"t tell him to buzz off.

There was no way the innocent and kind hearted creature she was literally born to be would do such a thing and there wasn"t a s...o...b..ll"s chance in h.e.l.l that she could match up against, much less see through, the old hunter"s guile and experience. She was as good as his so long as Herne didn"t scare her off. And if there was anything an old hunter understood, it was patience. When the young mage confronted him about it, Herne begged off by claiming that he was a master of wild cunning not courtly whit and clammed up.

With a portion of what remained of the purified essence in his circle, Orison finished repairing Neil"s spiritual damage that no amount of returned or even extra vitality could really do much about. With a fervent hope it would make a difference, the young mage invoked the Law of Three to send some of it to Joshua for the small slight against the stranger and followed the line as far as he could with spirit sight. Lastly, he gathered up the rest and sent a small portion to the ginseng before bequeathing the remainder to the garden maid who he named Flora.

Hitting Neil and the bed with "presto" to clean off unspeakable things, Orison threw a sheet over the man and waited for him to wake up. It was a few hours til morning and the young mage made the best of it by tidying up the room and removing traces of the battle that took place. By the time that dawn crested over the horizon, there wasn"t any signs that something supernatural had taken place aside from residual "filth" in one corner of the room that Orison kept around so that Neil could see it.

Once the detective came to, Orison gave him a moment to get dressed in privacy and then asked him what the detective remembered. Sadly, it wasn"t much. Vague impressions of a woman and unexplained decision making that he wouldn"t have done under normal circ.u.mstances were the only thing that kept the detective from coming to some very rash and insulting conclusions about what happened during the night.

To keep from having to answer questions and deal with a lingering suspicion in Neil"s eyes that Orison refused to dignify, the young mage showed him the spot of preserved "filth". He glossed over a great deal of gory detail but explained the key points the detective needed to know. Still looking somewhat unconvinced and struggling with a sense of having been violated, Neil asked for an organized facts list."

Orison said, "You f***ed a monster that ate your vitality. I was attacked by its companion. I used the trap inside the magic circle I set up to "kill" them and give your vitality back with some interest. They were connected to a source somewhere close to the edge of town and I have a general idea of where some of the still living missing persons might be... You were right, by the way. Joshua is still alive. At least he was last night. If we don"t find him before tonight, I"m not so sure he will be."

With a raised eyebrow, Neil said, "And you know that because of some lines in the air that only you can see?... I gotta lay the cards out here, kid. You"ve shown me enough that I"m not going to shoot you down without a little leg work first but there"s a whole lot of faith you"re asking from me... I don"t have a lot of that on a good day... But I"m telling you, on one side I feel like a million bucks and on the other, like I could fall apart with a sneeze. If I find out you"re yanking my chain on any of this, we"re done.

"I can"t... I know I"ve got some problems saying no to a dame in need but I"m not... I don"t even know what to say except that if, and I"m saying IF, you did something to me, I don"t want to see you again or have anything to do with you. Understand?"

Orison sighed, feeling a little numb to it all. "I could understand if, WHEN, you find out I"ve done nothing but try to help you, you still wanted to part ways. With no one left to blame but the one who brought bad sh*t into your life still around, all the hate, fear and distress needs a target. If that"s the way it plays out, I"m sorry and I DO understand."

Frustrated, Neil scratched at both sides of his head in a frenzy, making him look a little crazy. "What that Carter fella does, ain"t on you. If there"s crazies and monsters of the fairy tale or people variety running around in this town, that ain"t on you either. It"s just a whole lot easier to believe a weird kid put a whammy on me and did some dumb things than accept all this gobbledygook.

"I want to believe you. I don"t want to think that the kid who bailed my a** out of the fire, did... something to me. But you gotta see where I"m coming from. There"s another part of me that"d be a whole lot better off if I was just dealing with a good kid who was a little sick in the head than for all the crazy you"re laying down to be the truth."

Orison nodded. "Too much, too soon. I can imagine situations like this have broken better people than the both of us. I just hope you"re a lot tougher than I have any right to expect because it"s not over... Are you still wanting to find your missing person? We can leave right now and walk out if we have to."

Neil suddenly looked a whole lot firmer than he was a moment before. "No. First I need you to give me something I can see with my own eyes that what you say happened last night is the truth or at least the truth you know. Since that can maybe help us find our missing person, that"s a two point home run... If you can"t, I need to do what I think is right for Jessica"s sake and you need to get back to the city to clear your things out of my place."

Even if Orison knew where it was coming from, hearing Neil state it so bluntly still made him angry.

Scowling, Orison said, "Then shove some junk food down your throat and let"s get going. Your f*** buddy"s brother isn"t going to find himself."

Getting a little red in the face, Neil said, "You don"t talk about her like-"

Orison didn"t hear the rest as he had slammed the door to the room in Neil"s face. Taking a few breaths of fresh air outside, he got his temper back under control and waited for the detective on the porch. It struck him suddenly just how easy that was to do, now that he was out of the room.

Through the window, Orison said, "There"s something in the room that amplifies negative emotions. My circle protected us from it but its broken now. Get out as soon as you can."

Neil came storming out of the room like a thundercloud a minute later carrying the rest of the things Orison had bought at the general store the day before. A second later, Orison was dodging it as Neil slung the paper bag at him with enough force to rip the bottom out, scattering the contents over the lawn. With a quick look around to see that there wasn"t anyone looking, Orison used telekinesis to round everything back up and raised a challenging eyebrow at Neil.

Neil blanched as he was reminded that the teenager in front of him wasn"t some brat that he could yell into submission. With a few steady breaths of his own and a few moments to validate Orison"s claim, he admitted that there was something "fishy" about how easy he"d gotten bent out of shape last night if not in the current moment. He still insisted on an apology about the slur aimed at Jessica which the young mage gave.

In the lead for the moment, Orison dragged Neil back to the sheriff"s station. "Officer, there was someone snooping around our window early this morning and when I stepped out to see which way they were going, it was towards the northwest side of town. I was hoping you could come with us to look into it. It wasn"t much but there were some things sitting on the table under where the window is, that came up missing."

The sheriff sighed, "I don"t know what to tell you, young man. The only houses out that way are empty. There"s only the old church and our community"s graveyard. I"m just glad you didn"t follow anyone out there. There"s been a few wild animal attacks over that way the last couple of years. If you"d like to file a report-"

When the deputy on duty turned to get a statement form, Orison flashed Neil an "aha!" look.

Neil stepped up. "Wasn"t worth much money wise. We"d just like to ask a couple folks and then just chalk it up to bad luck. Does the preacher live in the church? Maybe he seen something?"

The deputy looked thoughtful. "The vicar does. He appreciates his privacy an awful lot, though. If it weren"t for the cemetery and some stubborn old folks, I don"t think that guy would have enough reason to call himself a holy man. I"ve never seen such a sourpuss.

"I went to a sermon once when he first settled in. Hair raising... Look at me, clucking like a chicken. I don"t think I"ll be going with you but if you want to try it on, see if he"ll talk with you, go ahead. Fair warning, he"s as likely to drive you off as hear what you have to say... Oh, while I have you here. No one"s blaming you for what happened or anything but there"s been some grumbling that you should split the cost with old man Stevens to get your car fished out of the gully or whatever you call that."

Neil was about to raise h.e.l.l but Orison just asked how much that would be and shocked the deputy by pulling out just shy of what was needed and begged off the little bit difference.

On their way to the church, Neil asked, "Why did you pay that? If they needed money to help cover it, they could have just claimed the salvage."

Orison said darkly, "It"s a wedge. Once a few negative emotions build up towards us, they"ll get fanned up to violence quicker than we can respond. If you think things are unfair now, wait til this evening. By then, it"ll be all our fault and it"ll be you who was drunk or some other bullsh*t. It"s just how these things work. Footing the bill at least bought us a little more time."

Walking up the winding road to the church, Neil was in a pensive mood. Considering what the man was tackling internally, Orison left him to it. If Neil didn"t need to follow through as much as they needed to provide some sort of answer to Mr. Carter, the young mage would have knocked the detective out and dragged him out of town if he had to. The place was only getting more dangerous by the moment.

When they reached the from doors of the church and knocked, no one came to answer. Checking them, Neil found that they were locked. With a touch of magic they didn"t stay that way and by that point, the detective was ready for a little gray area rule bending if it meant he could get some answers.

Stepping into the fellowship hall, it would almost be indistinguishable from a thousand other little shoe box churches built almost identically. It was a no frills establishment meant to invoke the idea of humble piety but under its dimly lit condition, it seemed to hint at a more sinister feeling. The lack of anything meaningful on a surface glance had subdued Neil greatly and it wouldn"t take long before the detective would call for them to leave but Orison had a different idea.

Using spirit sight, Orison noticed that there was a faint hint of corrupted energy permeating the place. It might have been a house of G.o.d at one point but it now belonged to a far different power. Depending on definition, it could still be considered a place of worship but the power it seemed to be consecrated to was not one that could claim to be benign.

It had been awhile since he"d needed to use it but the young mage fed essence into the core "Locate Objective" ability that seemed to be attuned to energy sources, if nothing else. On Osomo, it had been all but useless in most places as the whole world was one big source but here, it was like someone trying to find a light source in darkness. If there was one, it was all to easy to see. And find one, he did.

In a s.p.a.ce far below the alter there was a trail of angry dull reddish essence spotted with virulent pustules of green and brownish purples. Far into the distance underground, there was a congregating spot for it that instinct and common sense screamed was undeniable certain death or possibly something far worse. Unwilling to spend precious time looking for a way in, Orison spread out a little essence to "see" with before it was sucked into the magically dead air.

Neil said, "There"s nothing here. If we leave before we"re called out it"ll be a lot easier to deny any wrongdoing than getting caught inside."

Orison said, "There"s an underground pa.s.sageway stained with fresh and old blood. Going too far in would be dumb but if we open it up and then have the local law come in and look, it"ll raise enough interest that we might be able to avoid some of the unpleasantness in store for us. If the forces at work behind the scenes here want to make trouble, I say, return the favor."

Working a little more "unlock" on the alter, it made a click sound and slid on spring a.s.sisted tracks under the floor, out of the way. As soon as it came to a stop, the young mage purposefully misused "lock/unlock" to jam the mechanism. Once done, Orison stopped Neil from going down and brought him back to the sheriff"s office.

The deputy frowned slightly at their return. "If you"re coming back to complain, I already warned you what it"d be like before you went."

Orison said, "No! We went to talk to the vicar and found the doors to the church left wide open. There"s... there"s a hole in the church floor with b.l.o.o.d.y stairs going down into the ground. Something might have happened to him! Please get the sheriff!"

Stepping back outside as the deputy locked up with a sign and rushed over to the diner, a lady walking from the grocery spat and said, "Are the big city folks looking for some other decent man"s livelihood to ruin around here?"