Author: me alsome

Helena leaned against the side of the warehouse, looking up at the lights gleaming in the cavern above.  They were mineral deposits, but the lights of the city below made them shine like stars.  Helena wondered if someone had added them, or if they were naturally occurring.  Probably natural.  The pattern was too random for humans.  She’d started to organize them into constellations, drawing from the ancient poems for good naming candidates.

It was pretty much the only thing she could do.  Casting powerful spells would announce her presence, and the alley itself was dull.  There wasn’t even a laundry line in this one.  She was half tempted to steal a bucket and a ladder, just to give the street some character.

“Why are we planning to ambush him here?”  Helena asked.  “If he’s smart he’ll teleport himself along with the goods.  He’s obviously rich enough to afford losing whatever items he’s using as an anchor.  If we were near the warehouse I might be able to track his teleport.”

“A gamble.  Chances are he’ll take a merry stroll to the Triads’ new warehouse instead of teleporting himself.  He’ll be expecting us to get you to track him like a good specialist.”  He gave her a look.  “Which I’m guessing you can’t do, else you would have suggested that plan yourself.”

The Inspector was sadly correct.  Whatever spells Zhou was using to scrub his magical signature would be good enough to block her tracking.  “Fine.  But why here, in the most boring alley near the waterfront?”

“Because this is the only alley without any people in it,” Kilduff muttered.  “If he waltzes back down the main streets we’ll have witnesses.  If he’s trying to be sneaky he’ll come through here.”

Helena gave the man a sidelong look.  “Why would he care about witnesses?  We have no proof he’s committed any serious crimes.”

Kilduff sighed.  “Because he’s a criminal lass.  And a young one.  A guilty man acts guilty.  Even if they’ve got some damned lawyer to clean up after them.  They don’t calm down and get dangerous until after they get surprised a few times.”

That didn’t make much sense to Helena.  Still Kilduff was the expert on criminals.  They’d learn soon enough if he was right.

She’d started to drift off a little when the feel of magic passing through a nearby crossroad cut through the fog in her mind.  It was subdued magic.  Someone was trying very hard to suppress their wards and enhancements.  But the magician was too powerful to conceal themselves completely.  And Helena served the goddess of crossroads.  It gave her an edge other magicians had a hard time combating.

She signaled Inspector Kilduff with a quick hand wave, and the man nodded, loosening his club.  Helena pressed herself to the wall, suppressing her own power.  She wasn’t good at stealth, but she’d take any advantage she could get.

Not that she planned to stay hidden long.

The man who walked into the alley wore Qing era clothing in simple black, but his hair was short instead of in the traditional queue.  He carried no rings, bracelets, or other obvious spell storing items.  Just a pouch and whatever was in his sleeves.  To a casual observer he probably looked like a simple dock worker.  Across the way Kilduff shifted uncomfortably.  The policeman had probably thought the same thing.

Helena wasn’t a casual observer.  He might not have looked as flashy as the stories said, but he had the power and confidence of a magician.  Not to mention the passive wards every mage had to keep themselves from being killed by a stupid accident.  She stepped out of her cubbyhole and moved to block the alleyway.  “Hello, Living Dragon.  I got your message.  And I have a reply for you.”

Long Zhou Di’s eyes snapped open.  “Curse Gunner!”  It seemed she’d been recognized as well.  How nice.  Now to teach him why she’d earned her name.

The Chinese mage snapped his hand forward and a spell scroll dropped from his sleeve.  “Water Dragon’s Wrath!” he called out to activate the spell.

Helena pulled out her own scroll.  She’d expected water from the man, and she’d come prepared.  “Hephaestus’s Rebuke!”

Complex magical circles flared between both of them.  His was a cold blue, Chinese formulas and diagrams surrounded by two dragons chasing each other.  Refined characters fit for a textbook.  Hers was a deep red black, secret prayers in the first writing of Thebes and the symbols of the gods intertwined in smeared brushstrokes.  Ancient curses written in blood.

A dragon made out of water burst from Zhou’s outstretched finger, weaving through the alley like it was alive.  It opened its jaws with a mighty roar, ready to crush her.

Before it could bite down the air before her darkened.  A metallic crash louder than thunder rolled through the alley.  Flames burst out of the darkness and the dragon exploded into a burst of steam that slowly drifted into the air.

As the steam cleared away Helena traced another attack rune, while Zhou drew a sword from the air.  He gave her a slight nod.  “You are as dangerous as your reputation.”

“Likewise,” Helena replied.  “But, Living Dragon?  Really?  If you were going to be so uncouth as to fight over a title you could have picked something original.”

“It has sentimental value.”  Zhou leveled his blade.  “However I am in something of a hurry, so I fear I must dispose of you without explaining.”

“So, moving up from assault to attempted murder, eh?” Officer Kilduff stepped out of the shadows between them, club in hand.  “I was going to call you in for questioning about the incident at the hotel, but I see we can skip straight to the charges and handle the rest later.  You’re under arrest.  Put that sword down, and come along quietly would you?”

Zhou’s eyes widened as he saw Helena’s trap.  He lowered the sword for a second, but he had to know there was no escaping what he’d done.  A policeman had seen him attack a woman without provocation.

He raised his blade again.  “I see I will have to make you both disappear.”

Helena replied by finishing her spell.  “Rain of Spears.”

A circle of bloody runes formed in the air above Zhou.  The circle pulsed, sending a shower of crimson javelins falling from the sky, as if a full phalanx had thrown their spears.  Zhou dashed out from under the deadly rain, sword out.

Kilduff moved to block the other magician.  The Inspector slapped the first thrust away, but Zhou followed up with a low kick that caught the officer in the thigh.  Kilduff grunted and used the impact to give power to his own swing.  Zhou leaned back to dodge, and their fight began in earnest.

As the two battled Helena looked for an opening for a spell.  But no matter how she moved Zhou shifted to keep Kilduff as a shield.  It was a good strategy, made better by the constraints of the alley and the fact that Kilduff moved as little as possible.  That might have given the policeman better defense, but it meant Zhou could react to Helena.  Still it was a stalemate.

Perhaps sensing physical might alone wouldn’t work, Zhou snapped his fingers.  Flame burst between the two men then arced towards Kilduff.

“None of that devilry,” Kilduff snapped and a soft white glow snuffed the flames.  It seemed Kilduff’s faith could stop quick spells.  But there was no way Kilduff could keep that up.  Helena had to find a way to strike at Zhou without hitting the policeman.

Helena reached into her pouch for a loadstone.  The spell she was crafting was complex but she had the time to get it right.  A bullet that would seek its target, infused with a curse.  It was her specialty, the complicated technique that earned her the title of Curse Gunner.  As the spell came together she summoned the pain and fear she’d felt yesterday.  The wave of hatred that washed through her settled into her left hand, and infused the electric bullet with a dark light.  Make him suffer.

A bolt of concentrated lightning flew through the air, then slammed into the wall behind Zhou.  The bullet shattered and the shrapnel arced back, twisting its path to strike the magician.

Zhou tensed.  He must have sensed the dark energy coming from behind him.  Kilduff took that moment to strike, and Zhou dodged by doing a flip right over the policeman.

Right in front of her.

Zhou rushed at her, sword leading the way.  She let raw power flood through her body and stepped towards the blow.  Zhou’s eyes widened in surprise as she caught the flat of his blade with her wrist.  She let her left hand trace down the sword straight towards his face with all the magical power she could muster.

Zhou stopped in the air then completely changed his momentum, using flight to regain the advantage.  His knee slammed into her chest, shoving her aside.

She moved with the blow, spinning off past him.  Now that she was on the other side she lobbed off a bleeding curse.  Four red darts flew from her hand towards her enemy.

With a mighty shout he slammed his hand into the ground.  A gust of green wind sent Helena’s curses into the dirt while Zhou rocketed into the sky.  Helena prepared another attack, but the man was gone behind the other warehouses in an instant.

“Bloody bastard got away,” Kilduff snarled.  The tall man hooked his club back on his belt before looming over Helena.  “And you girl!  What was that nonsense back there!  You nearly hit me with that devilry of yours!”

“It didn’t have the range to hit you,” Helena said.  She grimaced and bowed her head in apology.  “I’m sorry I didn’t warn you.  I didn’t expect him to jump.”

Kilduff backed off a bit.  “Ah, well that can happen in a fight.”  He pulled out a cigarette and lit it with a certain vindictiveness.  “And he made a fool out of me as well.  I should have been expecting that jump.  Those flashy sword types always use it.”

The Inspector took a deep drag and let it out slowly.  “All that work and the best we have is formal charges.  Damn.”

“Not just that,” Helena replied, holding up a small jade figurine of a crane.  “We got this as well.”

“What?”  Kilduff stared at the figurine.  “How’d you get that?  Don’t tell me he somehow dropped the damn thing in all that dancing about?!”

Helena laughed.  “Of course not.  I picked his pocket.”

Her grin grew as Kilduff stared at her.  “I told you.  He’s known for stabbing other magicians.  He’d assume a tiny woman like me would be easy prey, especially since I’m a Hellenic witch.  Which means he was certain to attack me physically.  And since his outfit has sleeve pockets well…”

Kilduff shook his head in amazement.  “Aren’t you a tricksy girl.  Well far be it for me to complain about a bit of sleight of hand when it comes to catching a murderer.  Come on, let’s get back to the captain and start planning a real arrest.”

The door strained as the beast outside smashed it.  It smiled through the cracks, wearing her master’s face like a mask.  

“Such foolish little girls…  Don’t you know the forest is dangerous at night?”

The door’s magic defenses wouldn’t hold.  If Helena’s spell failed, they’d all die.

Yet she strode forward, using rage to smother the fear.  With a flick she unlatched the door.  Then she flung her curse forward.

“Yes.  The night is dangerous.  There are witches about.”

—–

Helena’s eyes snapped open, the dream vanishing into the depths of her memories.

Something was odd.  This wasn’t her bed.  She tried to peer through the darkness of the room to figure out what was going on.

Then her mind caught up to her body and she relaxed.  Apparently running to the police station had been the right choice.  Nothing had attacked her while she slept.  At least nothing outside of Phobetor’s realm.

She sat up and stretched, then hissed as a twinge of pain hit her.  It seemed she wasn’t fully healed.  Though some of that might have been her arm complaining from sleeping on it funny.  Helena summoned light, then reached behind her to grab her mirror from home so she could check her wounds.

The cuts on her back were almost gone, reduced to raised red lines.  The slashes on her arm still had some scar tissue, but they’d healed otherwise.

She whispered a few words and her magical wards became visible.  Some of the earliest spells a magician learned were spells to prevent physical and magical harm.  No magician wanted to die from slipping in the bath.  Normally she kept the mystical protections hidden, but right now she wanted to see how strong they were.  Their glow was a little muted, especially the wards against physical attack.  They were still stronger then the wards say Gold Rat Hsu had.  But she was a duelist at heart, and today she was going to be fighting another magician.  She’d have to be more careful.

As the glow of her wards faded she started summoning up the items she’d need this morning.  A proper dress, and a better set of magical supplies.  A comb and some other toiletries to freshen up.  Her knife, and some of the stronger magic items she possessed.

When she’d collected everything she needed she turned to making herself presentable.  Then she carefully placed the mirror and other items she wasn’t going to take with her on the desk, scrubbed out her alarm rune, and opened the door.

There was an open paper bag sitting outside the door.  Peering in the top she saw a couple donuts.  After a quick spell showed there wasn’t poison or some magical trap she picked the bag up.  A note was written on it in thick black pen.

“Figured you’d want breakfast.  Not the best but it’s what’s open at four A.M.  I’d say stay out of trouble, but if the Inspector’s got anything right about you that’s impossible, so I’ll simply say Good Luck.

-Chris.”

Helena smiled.  It had been a long time since the authorities had been on her side.  The smile faded a bit when she remembered that time was also when someone had tried to murder her.  She stretched a little and headed downstairs to get some tea to go with the offering of food.

The giant room downstairs was even busier than last night.  Every desk was filled with police making calls, sorting documents, and talking with other people.  It was a chaotic mess, but maybe that’s what was required to run a city the size of the Immigrant Realm.  Two million people living in one area was harder for Helena to comprehend than any magical realm she’d passed through.  Her home city’s population could be measured in thousands and it had been massive for her realm.

Helena skirted around the edges of the room and brewed herself another cup of tea.  A few people gave her odd looks but no one came and questioned her.  Hopefully they questioned other people that randomly walked in and stole their tea more thoroughly.  Then again it was possible everyone knew she was supposed to be there.  ‘Short woman wearing a witch’s hat’ was a fairly easy description to pass around the office.

The donuts were almost too sweet.  Helena never understood how Americans could stand all the sugar they put in everything.  Fortunately it was common practice to sweeten your own tea, so Helena was able to wash the sugar from her tongue.  At least it was filling.

She was finishing off the second when Kilduff walked out of an office.  Now that Helena was more awake she could see the fatigue lines around the man’s eyes, but he didn’t seem to have slowed down.  His eyes fell on her, and she gave the man a polite nod.  She owed him for his help, so she put aside her normal verbal jabs.

The Inspector grimaced at her before walking over to the drink table and filling a mug with coffee.  Only after he’d taken a sip did he wander over.  “I don’t know what demon you bargained with to not be suffering now girl, but it must have required a great and terrible payment.”

“No demons,” Helena replied.  “I just poisoned myself.”

“Poison usually makes people less awake,” Kilduff said.

Helena gestured towards the man’s drink.  “I’m pretty sure whatever’s in that cup has to be terrible for you in the long run.”

Kilduff sipped the coffee again.  “Better than bullets in the short term girl.”  His expression grew more stern.  “Are you up for a fight, lass?”

“I should ask you that.  We’re ambushing a true magician.  I have experience, you don’t.”  Helena sipped her tea.  “Fortunately, we outnumber him.   And he’ll have just wasted a lot of magic moving an entire warehouse full of goods.”  She grimaced.  “He’ll probably try to run.  It’s the smart move, especially since he doesn’t know what tricks we’ll have.”

“I usually don’t like it when criminals run from me, but in this case I’ll accept it as a blessing.  It’s better than a brawl.” Kilduff said.  He drained his mug, then placed it down on the counter.  “Right.  Let me speak with the boys cleaning out the warehouse, then we’ll go arrest a servant of Satan.”

Helena finished her tea and followed the policeman as he stalked off. “Why is the murderer just a servant of Satan while I keep getting called a bride?” she muttered.

Kilduff walked through a number of hallways to a pair of large double doors.  He pushed on through revealing a massive room filled with lockers and strange gear.  Twenty men and women were strapping on the odd armor and weapons that the warriors of the Big Apple used.  The black buff coats and helmets looked somehow both crude and futuristic to Helena.  She also noticed most of the guns they carried were bright orange.  An odd choice given that everything else was black.

“Your men ready Lieutenant?” Kilduff asked one of the men at the front.

“In fifteen, Inspector.”  He lowered his voice.  “The rookie was wondering about the squirt guns though.  Think we should keep him back?”

Kilduff nodded.  “Aye.  I doubt you’ll find anything, but if you do I don’t want any mistakes.  Daft bastard might try shooting the demons in the head and we all know how that ends.  Time enough to train him right later.”

“Yes sir.  The kid doesn’t need a friendly fire incident on his hands, and I don’t need to get shot,” the man said.  “Then we’ll move out after the weapons check.  Sure you can’t come with us, sir?”

“Sorry lad, but no.”  Kilduff jerked a thumb back towards Helena.  “The witch is right when she says the Triads will clean up and run away.  They’ll take the goods and use their lawyers to muddy the trail so we can’t catch them.  They’re scum, but they act like it’s a business, and money’s all they care about.”

The Lieutenant nodded.  “Right sir.  Good luck on your hunt then.”

“Send prayers too, I’ll be needing both,” Kilduff said before walking back to Helena.  “Off we go then.”

“Of course.”  Helena started walking towards the large door marked ‘Exit.’  “So, squirt guns?”

Kilduff grunted.  “How else are the men going to fight demons?  Ask them nicely to hold still while they pour holy water on them?  The things look ridiculous but they get the job done.”

Helena nodded slowly.  It wasn’t the question she asked, but that explained it.  Holy water weapons.  Apparently the people from the Big Apple were smarter than she’d thought.  They’d designed a powerful anti demon weapon despite the fact demons rarely entered the realm.

As they walked out onto the parking lot around the police building Kilduff looked over his shoulder.  “We’ll be taking the Culver street entrance just so you know.”

“The sewers.  Wonderful.”  Helena started fishing around in her bag for some peppermint.  She had a feeling she’d need a spell to clear the air if either of them was going to surprise anyone.

Helena was still groggy, but the difference between the police room they’d just left and the one she’d entered was like night and day.  Men and women were running about, talking into phones, scribbling down notes, and glaring at the glowing boxes on their desks.  The bulky tools were obviously more primitive versions of what the fellows in the office next door used, but this place actually felt more sophisticated.  At the fringe of the office two men were questioning a huge figure in a cloak.  At a glance there looked to be twice as many people working here in half the space. 

Kilduff walked over to a dark skinned man rapidly typing behind a slightly bigger desk.  “Sergeant Mitchell.  You know the whole story about the Samuels’ building break in?”

The man looked up.  “Heard it was related to the big murder that’s got the Captain sweating bullets.  I’ve been focusing on the kidnapping cases in the native ward instead.  What’s up?”

“We’re taking the witch the captain hired into protective custody,” Kilduff jerked a thumb over his shoulder at Helena.  “Figured you and the others should know.  I doubt the Triads would try to break into the station but….”

Mitchell nodded.  “I’ll tell the guys on duty so we don’t replay the police station scene from Terminator.”  He smiled at Helena and Kilduff’s confused expressions.  “Movie.  Don’t worry about it.  Anyway, Chris is free.  Want her to handle placement?”

Kilduff nodded.  “Good idea lad.  Lucky she’s not working.”

Helena watched in interest as Sergeant Mitchell waved over a stocky woman in uniform.  The concept of a female police officer was still a little strange to her.  Then again she was still getting used to the idea of a police force to begin with.  She’d seen women patrolling, but usually only twice a year.

Chris gave the two men a salute.  “You need me to take a statement, sir?”

“Not for this one,” Kilduff said.  “Ms. Aoede’s about as far from the women you usually work with as you can get.  Which should tell you how dangerous the fellows that did this to her are, so keep your head on straight.  Get her set up in one of the third floor offices we aren’t using, and keep an eye on her for a bit would you?”

Chris seemed confused, but simply replied, “Yes sir.”  The woman turned to Helena and extended a hand.  “Chris Hamilton.”

“Helena Aoede,” Helena replied giving the woman a polite shake.  “A pleasure.”

“I’ll leave you to it then,” Kilduff said.  “Nine thirty in the morning, if you can make it.  If not I’ll just have less to confess next Sunday, so don’t reopen your wounds.”  The man yawned and turned away.  “Now I’ll be getting my rest.  You know where to find me if you need me.”

“Good night to you too,” Helena muttered.

Mitchell shook his head.  “Sleep Inspector.  I can handle it.”  He looked over at Chris.  “I’ve got the Hlahla case too, so don’t worry about your workload.  Women’s shelter has pretty much got it handled anyway.”

 “Thanks Sergeant.”  Chris turned back to Helena.  “You want something to drink on the way?”

“Tea, if you have it?” Helena asked with faint hope.

Chris nodded.  “Sure, right this way.”  She led Helena towards what looked like a counter filled with coffee pots.  Helena hoped there actually was tea hidden somewhere among the poison.

When Helena saw one of the pots had only boiling water in it she quickly realized the setup.  Chris handed her a cup, and Helena grabbed one of the tea bags and finished the alchemical creation.  She was tempted to use magic to cool the tea down so she could drink it faster, but she decided that would be a waste.

“So, care to fill me in on what you’re here for?” Chris asked as the woman filled her own mug with cold water.

Helena grimaced.  She didn’t want to repeat her story in full so she settled for the quick version.  “I’m the witch your boss hired to track down the jiang-shi that murdered the man from across the river.  The jiang-shi’s controller was apparently offended, so he sent his minions to murder me in my sleep.  They failed, but not for lack of trying.”

“Wait, so you’re actually a real witch?”  The woman looked her over.  “I suppose even magic has its limits if you got that beat up.”

“Magic has no limits.  Unfortunately magicians do,” Helena replied.  “I think I did pretty good given two people attacked me while I was asleep.”

“I suppose so,” Chris replied.

The policewoman looked Helena up and down.  Trying to determine her mood?  Or guessing how she managed to escape?  Her brain tried to decipher the look then gave up and went back to hurting.  She simply sipped her tea instead.

“Well, let’s get your room set up.  Do you think you’re awake enough to take the stairs, or are you willing to risk the elevator?” Chris asked.

“I dislike the word risk right now, so the stairs should be fine,” Helena replied.  “I can fly if I get tired anyway.”

“No broomstick required eh?” Chris asked with a smile.

Helena smiled in return.  “No.  Modern witches only do that as part of the act.”

As Chris led her towards the back hallway, Helena decided to ask the question that had been gnawing on her mind since she got here.  “So, are most of the police from over the bridge?  Inspector Kilduff seems to be the only Immigrant Realm native.”

Chris looked surprised at the question.  “You noticed that, huh?  Well, HQ has more of us from outside.  Most of the people who were born here work out in the community.  No cell phones, so we have to actually keep police boxes open and walk the beat.”  She sighed.  “I really miss cell service.

“In any case Mitchell and I are a bit of an exception,” Chris said.  “Most of the people from the big city work across the way.  The old HQ is about seventy percent locals.  Only those of us that work the streets have offices here.”

Maybe it was the tea or maybe it was because she’d been needling Kilduff about it for days, but the setup finally clicked in her tired mind.  “I get it.  This is the dumping ground for the Big Apple’s police force.  All the people who didn’t fit in or who screwed up.”

“What?”  Chris’ pleasant expression vanished.  “What are you talking about?”

“It’s fairly obvious in retrospect,” Helena said softly.  “If Kilduff hadn’t been a little loose lipped I’d have never noticed it.  But when all the facts are together it’s clear.

“Let’s start with the Inspector.  He’s an Inspector, but he walks the beat like an average cop.  Whenever he tells a policeman to jump, the man is a foot in the air before asking why.  And he’s somehow built up a crew of volunteers in the areas the police can’t patrol.”  Chris stared at her as Helena quietly explained her deductions.  “He can get oni to listen to him.  It’s obvious he should be running the show.  Even if he hates magicians and ‘pagans’ he’s willing to try to ignore that and enforce the law fairly.  Not ideal, but better than most.”

Helena shrugged.  “Alone that would suggest there’s bias against Immigrant Realm natives.  And I’m sure there is, you’ve got old equipment and limited support.  But if Captain Jacobs was actually competent there’d be more friction between the two realms.  He’d be complaining about the lack of funding and support.  Instead the place is quietly handling everything on its own.”  Helena looked Chris in the eye.  “It’s running smoothly under Inspector Kilduff’s direction.  That means the Captain’s just sitting around unless his job is in trouble.  And that suggests the people across the river are just dumping those they don’t like here.”

Chris gaped at the rundown.  “Are all witches that quick to figure things out?”

“Witches that want to live long lives tend to be,” Helena said.  She shrugged.  “Also I’ve lived here for years.  And I’ve seen the Captain and the Inspector working together.  It’s simple after that.”

“I see.”  Chris shrugged.  “Well I suppose it doesn’t matter if I spill the beans then.  Yeah this is where they send the rejects and people who talk too much about police problems.  Like how they treat us female cops like crap, and plant evidence to make their lives easier.  And the few weirdos who actually like trying to work in a city where ‘magic’ is an acceptable incident report.  But I’ve come to like the work.  Not the job, but the work.”

Helena smirked.  “Most people in the Immigrant Realm are confused by the idea of an incident report anyway.  Not that I’m complaining.”  She hesitated a bit before adding, “I’m a bit surprised that people in the Immigrant Realms accept women having authority.  That’s not something my homeland is known for.  In fact I can only think of five other realms where that’s common in any way.”

“Accepting?”  Chris snorted derisively.  “I’m not sure if I’d call it that.  It’s just the local bigotry is so old and rusty that it’s almost helpful.  When people claim you’re too girly to shoot straight, a few rounds at the range will shut them up.  And a lot of women find it easier to talk with another woman, which means we’re the best witness interviewers for a lot of cases.  I mostly work on domestic violence cases myself.  Get statements and help them find a place to stay.”

“Interesting,” Helena said.  “That’s what my grandmother and aunts do most of the time.”

“I didn’t think domestic violence was illegal in the old realms.”

“My family doesn’t work through official channels,” Helena admitted.

“I suppose different places have different rules,” Chris said as she started back down the hallway.

Helena took a long sip of her tea.  “Well the rules here are probably better.  If bad for my job prospects.”

“You can’t just turn lead into gold?” Chris asked.

“The spell involves ruby dust, so it’s a net loss.”  Helena shook her head as Chris laughed.  “I’m not joking.  Transmutation is easy at a basic level, but becomes more and more difficult as you add more detail and safety measures to the process.  With a lot more training I could get better.  After all, I know someone who created a Philosopher’s Stone.  But I can’t afford the materials to experiment.”

Chris gaped at her.  “You know someone who can actually turn lead into gold?  Wouldn’t that destroy gold prices?”

Helena chuckled.  “If she used it.  But everyone who’s created a Philosopher’s Stone is already incredibly wealthy, so she only creates gold to show off.  If you can afford the experiments required to create a Philosopher’s Stone, you don’t need more gold.”

The policewoman seemed to be slowly absorbing this information as they reached the middle of the hallway.  She pulled out a key and unlocked the door across from a lit office.  Helena looked in to see a room that contained just a desk and a couch at the back.  It looked like an abandoned temple to paperwork to Helena’s tired eyes.

Chris flipped the light switch and cursed as the bulb proceeded to flicker and die.  “I thought we put in an order for the electrical work here a month ago?  Bet it’s sitting on some paper shoveler’s desk.”

Helena snapped her fingers and conjured an orb of light into the bulb.  The glow was a little more dim then the lights in the hall, but not nearly as harsh.  “This should do.”  She looked over glum space.  “I guess I’m sleeping on the couch?”

Chris looked up at the light.  “Well it’ll save on electricity I guess.”  She then turned back to Helena.  “Yeah, I’m afraid so.  The only beds are in the cells, and the couches are more comfortable.  I’ve tried to convince the brass to get a few beds for kids or other witnesses we need to hold here overnight, but that costs money so….”

“It’s fine.  I should be able to fit.  One of the benefits of being small.”  Helena downed the rest of her tea.

“I’ll get some blankets and a pillow then,” Chris said.  “One second, okay?”

“Thank you,” Helena said.

As the policewoman headed back down the hallway Helena walked over to the sofa and gingerly sat down.  As her body relaxed her mind started to drift and sink, only kept afloat by the painful throb of her injuries.  At least the cuts had settled from the sharp pain to a general malaise.  Hopefully that was because of her healing and not the jiang-shi’s claws.  There was no poison but the chill of the grave infused them.  The cuts were more likely to sour than usual if not treated.  She’d probably lost more blood than she really wanted too as well.  None of the cuts had been deep, but-

Terror sent her heart into overdrive and she lurched upright.  The jiang-shi had her blood.  And even if their aura had ruined the connection, she’d left plenty of blood all over the city.

“Hecate preserve me from my own stupidity,” she hissed as she fished some chalk out of her pouch.  She stood, walked over to the desk, and started drawing circles to serve as the base of her spell.

“Whoa!”

Helena screwed up a line and swore again.  She looked up to see Chris standing in the doorway with the blankets and pillow.  “You startled me.”

“Yeah you startled me too,” the policewoman said.  “What’s all that about?”

“I need to make sure my blood can’t be used against me,” Helena said as she wiped off the malformed circle and started over.  “It’s not as dangerous as blood freely given, but it’s a weakness.”

Chris stared down at her handiwork in rapt fascination.  “But how are you going to do that?  I mean you’re here and your blood is out there.”

Helena took a breath and forced herself to slow down as she started placing the runes of linking around the circle.  “Yes.  But connections work both ways.  The blood has a connection to me, so I have a connection to the blood.  I’m going to use that to convert my blood into air.  The blood that’s not inside me anyway.”  She looked up for a moment.  “Don’t worry about asking questions.  It helps the ritual if I explain it.”  Chris seemed like a down to earth woman, so convincing her that Helena’s magic made a twisted sense would serve as a good anchor.

“Well, now I don’t know what question to start with,” Chris said with a weak smile.  “Um, why air?  Why not fire or water or something?”

“Elemental humors,” Helena replied.  She smiled weakly.  “It’s wrong, but it’s what I learned as a child.  Blood is the sanguine humor, connected to air.”  She started writing the air runes as she explained.  “But knowing that blood comes from bone marrow instead of the liver makes it easier to do the conversion.  I can use that as the basis of the earth part of the spell.  It’s best to use all of the classic elements when playing around with symbolism.”

Chris looked at the near complete rune, inspecting it like it was fine art.  “So do you do this every time you cut yourself?  Seems like it would be hard.  And what about other bits of your body?”

“I can just wipe up the blood from small cuts,” Helena said.  “Things like strands of hair and nail clippings can be used as well, but the bond is very weak.  And that would be violating the rules.”

“Murder’s violating the rules too,” Chris pointed out.  “The man sent two assassins after you.”

Helena shook her head.  “But I could defend against them.  I’m still alive.  I might have done better if I hadn’t been dumb and neglected my window’s magical defenses.  But there’s no way to defend against someone following me around and grabbing strands of hair.”  Helena shook her head.  “The only protection you have against someone who does that is to kill them first.  And magicians are very good at preemptive self defense.”

Helena finished the water section, then looked over the circle.  Everything seemed in place.  Now to activate it.  She squeezed one of her cuts and a single drop of her blood fell into the circle.  The circle glowed blue then the blood seemed to just evaporate.  Helena was pleased when she saw the blood on her shift vanish as well.  “That’s nice.  Saves me some cleaning.”

“Well I’m glad you won’t turn into a toad while you’re here,” Chris said.  “Anything else you need?  Or have planned?  We don’t want anyone walking in and thinking you’re trying to start a zombie apocalypse if you happen to be scribbling any more runes down.”

Helena stared down at the now useless rune and tried to gather her thoughts.  Her plans sat stubbornly out of reach as her mind grasped at them, but she could make out the edges of her problems.  She was tired.  She was weakened.  And she had less than six hours to get everything she needed for a fight, and to recover from the ambush.

All of that was impossible.  If nothing else she wasn’t going to be able to heal up in time.

She needed to be clear headed.  The fatigue was distracting her, and distracted magicians ended up making dangerous mistakes.  She considered using magic to banish the fatigue, but she was short on magical energy as well.  She needed rest.

“Are you all right?” Chris waved a hand in front of Helena’s face.

“Oh!  Sorry sorry.”  Helena shook her head.  “I’m going to hibernate.  I’ll also put an alarm rune on the door.  It will glow and hum and look dangerous, but it won’t actually do anything.”

Chris blinked.  “Hibernate?”

Helena rolled the word over in her mind to make sure she wasn’t misusing it.  “Torpor.  That’s the word.  A very deep sleep.  I won’t be able to wake normally for four hours.”  She winced.  “It’s the only way I’ll be able to recover by tomorrow.  I should be safe here.”

“Should be?” Chris said.  “What if we need to move you because of a fire or something?”

The idea bounced around in Helena’s mind.  “That… would be a problem.  I’ll add an emergency wake up clause.”  Of course if she was woken up early she’d be miserable for a week, but it was a small gamble.

Chris snorted.  “Sounds more like a computer program than magic now.  Well if you’ve got it handled I’ll get back to the rest of my work.  There’s a bathroom down this way, and a water fountain as  well.  If you need something else before you go to sleep, I should be at my desk.”

“Thank you very much,” Helena said as the woman walked out and shut the door behind her.

With that done Helena walked over to the door.  A few chalk lines made a rune of alarm, and a circle inscribed with light to make the chalk glow when disturbed.  She then drew a bunch of scary looking symbols around it to keep people from stepping on it.

That finished she fished around in her pouch for the materials she’d need.  Mandrake, poppy, and a single drop of cobra venom.  Sleep and healing.  She grabbed the cup and floated to the fountain to fill it with water before adding the ingredients and filling the slurry with magic.  After a moment’s thought she used the bathroom next to it before returning to her room, shutting the door and locking it.

Helena moved over and sat on the couch looking over the potion she’d created.  It was safe.  She knew it was safe.  She’d added spells to wake her if someone did attack her in the police station, and her bell should warn her of danger if those failed.  And she’d fished out one of her stronger spell scrolls for defense if something did go wrong.

But her hands were still trembling.  The sound of splintering wood hung at the edge of her consciousness.  The straining of wood pushed past its limits.  A nightmare waiting for her on the other side.

She forced herself to chug the potion.  It tasted sour, but when it reached her stomach a warmth began flowing out into the rest of her body.  Helena had just enough time to curl up on the couch and pull the blanket up, before everything became dark.

Helena had repeated her story twice to the officer before the car to take her to the station arrived.  It was annoying giving the same speech again, but it had given her time to stop the bleeding.  Fortunately she hadn’t suffered any serious internal injuries.  Her body was still sore all over, and the shift she was using as a dress was ruined, but she was alive.

When she finished the second retelling the officer tore off the paper from his notepad.  “Thank you again Ms. Aoede.  I’ve sent word to the squad investigating your apartment so they know what happened, and the car from the precinct will be here any moment.”  Helena grimaced at the thought of police searching through her apartment, but it made sense.  After all, the whole neighborhood had to have noticed the fight.

The officer stood.  “Do you want some coffee?”

“No,” Helena immediately replied.  “Do you have tea?”

“Not here,” the officer admitted.  “I’ve only got one pot for hot drinks.”

Helena sighed.  “I understand.”  She’d taken enough of a beating today.  She didn’t even want to think about that Turkish swill.  “Can you get me sanctuary, or whatever that witness protection thing is?”

The officer hesitated.  “That’s up to the captain, but given you’re the only witness, I think it’s likely.”

The oddly muted sound of a modern engine cut off further conversation.  Helena looked outside the small police office to see a car pull up.  “It seems like my escort is here.”  She stood, then her jaw dropped as Kilduff got out of the vehicle.

“Looks like you got yourself into a wee spot of trouble,” Kilduff said as he walked over to the office.  “I’ll take her in Myers.  Good work finding the devilish lass.”

Myers saluted.  “It was pretty easy, what with the big light show Inspector.”  The man held out the notes he’d taken.  “Witness statement.”

Helena peered closely at Kilduff to make sure she wasn’t being tricked by some illusion but the sleep rings around the man’s eyes and the blessing on his billy club meant he was the real deal.  “What are you doing up at this hour?  Didn’t you have an assault to plan?”

“Crime doesn’t sleep,” the Inspector rubbed his eyes.  “And that means I don’t get to either.  Especially when one of the Captain’s hires gets attacked in her home.”  He managed a nasty grin.  “The Captain got woken up too, so you’ll get to see him at his finest.”

“Blame the jiang-shi,” Helena replied.  She stood slowly, wincing at the pain, then walked over to the police car.  “Let’s get this dealt with so we can all go back to sleep.”

Kilduff stretched.  “First time I’ve agreed with you completely, witch.”  He took the notes from Officer Myers with a polite nod, then got in the car.  After a bit of fumbling in the dark for her seatbelt, Helena managed to secure herself enough for Kilduff to start driving.  “Trip should be faster, this time of night.  So long as we dodge the market.”

Helena nodded absently as she stared out the window.  The pain came and receded as she sat in the car.  She’d healed enough to keep herself alive, but the delicate art of mending bruises and internal injuries wasn’t really her specialty.  Being woken up in the middle of the night and beaten half to death hadn’t improved her skills either.  Thoughts drifted at the edge of her consciousness like smoke, twisting and dancing and repeating but refusing to solidify, leaving her stuck.

“Hm?”  She realized Kilduff had asked her a question.  “What was that?”

“I asked if you saw who did this to you?” Kilduff said.  “Was the magician there?  And what did those undead monsters look like?”

She sat up and pain ripped through her stomach.  She hissed in annoyance until it faded, then turned to Kilduff.  “The magician wasn’t there.  At least I didn’t see him.”  Helena closed her eyes.  “And that was a good thing.  They caught me completely by surprise.  If the magician had been there I’d be dead.  As it was they beat me.”

Kilduff looked her over.  “Aye.  Badly it seems.  Are you sure you should be so confident about beating the mage behind those creatures?”

“They ambushed me when I was half naked and asleep.  I still survived.  When I’m awake and armed I’ll do better,” Helena replied.

“Right.”  Kilduff didn’t even try to keep his disbelief hidden.  “And two?  Are you sure?”

Helena nodded.  “Certain.  Man and a woman.”

Kilduff swore and pulled out a cigarette.  “Just what we needed.  Didn’t you say those damn things are expensive?”

“Apparently working for the Triad pays,” Helena muttered.

“Any distinguishing features?” Kilduff asked.

Helena took a deep breath.  “Other than the incredibly obvious talismans on their head?”  She did her best to picture the two from the brief moment the flashlight hit them.  “The man was Han Chinese.  He had a thin mustache and beard.  Nothing too surprising.  But the woman wasn’t Chinese.  She looked more American, or South American.  Dark skin and curly hair.”  Helena rubbed her stomach.  “Probably used to be a martial artist, because that kick was perfect.  The man didn’t try anything fancy so I can’t say what his skills are.”

Kilduff’s expression grew even more grim.  “You’re telling me the creatures can keep their fighting skills?”

“Yes,” Helena replied.  “It’s hard to do proper martial arts with rigor mortis, but they keep their knowledge.”

“Wonderful,” the Inspector said.  “Well, let’s go ruin the Captain’s day with this information.  Then we can all be miserable.”  He turned off the car and Helena looked up to see they’d reached the station.  It was embarrassing how disoriented she was, but spending magic to wake up was a waste.  Instead she just got out of the car and followed Kilduff up to the modern building again.

They walked through the entryway, then down a different hall into a large room filled with desks.  Only a few people were there, all of them sitting in front of glowing screens.  Helena ignored the startled looks at their entrance and instead focused on the room.  Kilduff led her to the back then through a short hallway to the Captain’s office.

Captain Jacobs looked even more tired than Kilduff.  The man pushed a cup across the desk with a yawn.  “Coffee?”

“No thank you,” Helena replied, shifting the cup away from her.

“Suit yourself.”  Jacobs flopped back in this office chair.  “So witness protection.  We can set you up in the Bronx until the perpetrators are in custody.  Of course you’re going to have to limit your movements but I think in light of-“

“Are you trying to get me killed?” Helena snapped.  This garbage wasn’t what she came here for.

Jacobs blinked at her.  “Wha-“

A flick of Helena’s hand shut the office door behind them.  “I’m a witch.  The only reason we’re able to have this conversation is because I’m a very good witch.  All of that changes in low magic realms like across the bridge.  I lose my strongest defenses, and undead only get stronger in the dark of night.  As soon as the Living Dragon figures out how to turn off the lights in a building I’ll be dead along with any poor fools you have standing guard.”

Captain Jacobs glared at her.  “Why are you so sure he’ll keep chasing after you?  We’re going to be hunting him down.  You’re just a consultant, one who’s done your job.  You pack up and go, we bring this criminal in and then you can go back to your apartment.”

Helena rubbed her temples in frustration.  “Sending assassins to murder someone in their sleep doesn’t mean ‘back off’.  It’s a declaration of war.  If he wanted me to just skip town he’d have had those jiang-shi jump me in an alley.  Maybe sent a strongly worded letter with an explosive charm.  He’s committed to a duel.  Both of us will be looking over our shoulders until one of us is dead.”

“Fine.”  The Captain shrugged.  “We’ll move you out into the interior.  Just right past the city.”

“Teleportation exists, Captain Jacobs,” Helena said.  “That will only make his job easier.”

Jacobs let his arms fall hard onto his desk.  “What do you want?!  You asked for protection, and now that I’m giving it to you, you’re refusing!”

Helena pointed around the police building.  “I want a place to stay here, and I’m going to take this bastard down.”

“Impossible!”  The captain began rocking back and forth in his chair.  “You’re a contractor, not a trained police worker, and you’ve already gone way beyond what we hired you for!”

Helena glared at the man.  “Then you should have paid me earlier.  You asked me to find the magician, and now I’ve found him.”

Jacobs glared at her.  “So will you be a good girl and accept witness protection if we give you the money?”

“Too late for that.”  Helena didn’t let up her glare.  “Five hundred dollars won’t do me much good when I’m dead.  I’m going to have to finish this matter.”

“Captain, if I might speak?”

Both Helena and Jacobs looked over to where Kilduff was sitting.  The Inspector’s eyes were closed but he still seemed alert.  “The only reason we send people over the bridge is because that’s the safest place.  Since the witch isn’t going anywhere we might as well set her up in one of the empty offices next door.  Save us some manpower keeping track of her.”

Helena blinked.  Kilduff couldn’t possibly be the most sane person in the room.  Jacobs looked equally dumbfounded.  “Ryan, you can’t possibly be considering her offer.  We can’t let a civilian vigilante hunt down one of our suspects just because she has a grudge against him!”

“No, we can’t,” Kilduff agreed.  “I didn’t say we should let the witch run around picking fights.  But if she wants to sleep in the station, well, that’s as good as I’m going to get to seeing her in a cell and away from the rest of the realm so I’ll take it.”

Helena shook her head.  “The irony of being saved by your bigotry would amuse me if I wasn’t dead tired.”

Jacobs rocked back and forth for a bit, his eyes unfocused as he considered the idea.  “Fine.  But we’re only letting her stay in the building for protection.  She’s not to be anywhere near our operation tomorrow!  And if the matter isn’t handled then I want her in normal witness protection as soon as possible.  Do you understand?”

“I’ll personally make sure she stays away,” Kilduff said.  “And I’ll tell someone to start the paperwork, sir.”

Helena didn’t argue the point.  She was too tired.  Instead she stood.  “Good.  If you show me the room we can all get some sleep.”

“Please,” Jacobs said, waving them out of the office.

Kilduff rubbed his eyes and stood as well.  “Right.  Follow me.”

He led Helena out through the room where the on duty police were mindlessly clicking away at their computers then around and down a staircase.  This passage seemed less like a basement and more like a tunnel.  “Underground passage to the other building?” she asked.

“Keeps people from freezing in the snow.  At least for a few seconds.”  He shrugged.  “Of course every real cop except the lab crew ends up in the snow anyway so it doesn’t help.”

They continued on down the hall for a while before Helena finally decided to speak up.  “Do you really think you can keep me from facing Long Zhou Di?”

Kilduff heaved a great sigh.  “I told the captain you wouldn’t be at the raid.”  He looked back at her.  “But I figured long ago we wouldn’t be rid of you until the matter was settled.  Which is why I planned for you to join me ambushing the fellow as he goes home from emptying out the warehouse.”

Helena smiled.  Then she winced as her bruised stomach complained again.  “Good.  I’ve got a lot of things to discuss with him.”

The inspector frowned, but he simply continued on, leading Helena up out of the tunnel and into the old police station.

This was starting to get boring, Camila thought absently as she stood in front of her master.  Normally any time when she was conscious and not murdering someone was nice, but waiting while her master watched her flesh regrow wasn’t that interesting.

To be fair she didn’t really feel emotions per se.  She knew what emotions she was supposed to be feeling, but they never really materialized.  Probably the way she was being controlled.  She’d learned back in school emotions were how people made decisions.  If she was actually allowed to be angry she might have snapped her master’s neck.

At last her master stopped prodding her and stepped back.  “Well, at least the regeneration is working properly.  As irritating as it is to learn this from a failure.”  He turned away, facing the other jiang-shi standing in the room like a statue.  “And it seems I was right to send both of you.  Had I sent one I would have lost a huge investment.  Or perhaps more.”

The man began to pace.  It had been a while since Camila had seen him monologuing.  “I underestimated her.  A mistake.  She studied under ‘the Tutor,’ after all.  The assassination was a good plan, but when it failed I shouldn’t have pressed the attack.  I had to reveal too much information for too little gain.”

The woman had been pretty impressive.  Camila had written her off as just a cute girl in a nightdress.  Another unfortunate victim.  But she survived being kicked through a window, and had started tossing around lightning bolts and spears.  Probably was a good thing Camila wasn’t able to feel emotions then, or she might have been worried about getting killed.

“I’ll have to gain more information before our next fight,” he finally said before striding off.  “I just need a bit more money for my next experiment.  Her death will get me that and more.  And then…”

Consciousness slowly faded from Camila as her master let her fall into topor.  She couldn’t hate him.  That wasn’t allowed.  But as her mind greyed out, she found herself idly wishing that girl she’d tried to kill would hunt her master down and put him out of everyone’s misery.  And if Camila was really lucky, maybe without her getting killed in the process.

It was a nice wish at least.

Her eyes snapped open.

The room quickly came into focus as Helena awoke.  She was in her bed.  The moon was shining in the living room window.  It was near one in the morning.  The meeting wasn’t until ten tomorrow.  Why was she awake?

She was in danger.

The window exploded inwards with a horrific crash, splinters of the window frame tearing through the room.  Helena rolled off her bed and onto her feet.  A dark figure rushed towards her, filling her vision.  Helena leaped into the air and flew over her bed to escape.

She jabbed a finger at the intruder and summoned every scrap of will she could to smite it.  Her body tensed, then flared with power as lightning coursed through her arm.  The darkness turned into blinding light, and thunder boomed as the creature fell back.  In the second she had, Helena reached out and grabbed the hard leather of her pouch.

Then it was upon her.

Agony ripped through her chest, then poured over her back as she was flung through the air.  Runes of blue light flashed for a moment around her then faded.  Her protective wards burning out.  Without them she’d be dead.

She needed to do something, anything!  She jabbed her finger forwards and she tried to recapture the feeling of power she’d summoned before.  The world exploded in white and Helena retreated.

As she flew away reality slowly snapped back into place, piece by piece.  The nebulous pain in her body shifted into burning cuts on her back and a heavy throb in her stomach.  Her eyes transformed the blur before her into a view of her apartment, both windows now shattered open.  Finally the ringing in her ears cleared up, leaving the rush of wind.

The snap of fast moving silk came from above and she dodged to the right.  Slashing claws slapped the air against her face, but she’d avoided the blow.  She retreated again, flying into the moonlit skies and her opponent followed, the pale glow slowly revealing her attacker.

It was a woman, wearing a buttoned Chinese shirt and trousers.  A paper slip stuck on the woman’s forehead hung between her cold eyes, and her arms were stiff, locked in rigor mortis.  In the weak light of the moon, the hovering figure seemed like an omen of death.

Perfect unmarred skin showed through the lightning burns in the jiang-shi’s shirt.  Worse she was flying.  Whoever had animated it was apparently insultingly rich and willing to spend that wealth.

And their investment was paying off.  Helena was hurt, in her nightclothes, and had only her traveling pouch to help defend herself.  Her physical wards were going to take an hour to reform, and her internal strength was drained from casually throwing around lightning without focusing.

This was turning out to be a very bad night.

The rustle of silk was the only warning before the jiang-shi rushed forwards again.  Helena juked up and to the left, away from its claw like hands.  The undead woman hopped in the air to reverse course but Helena whirled to the right.  That was the trick!  She had the maneuverability advantage.  If she could stay out of reach she could easily take the monster down.

Helena grabbed a faded peach blossom from her pouch as she dodged the jiang-shi’s wide swipes.  She held it in her hand and let her emotions bubble free.  How dare this thing attack her, hurt her, insult her!  The miasma in her left hand roiled as her fury rose.  The rage formed a burning core within her and she channeled it into the spell she incanted.  “Return to dust.”

She flung her left arm forward.  The blossom unfurled into a wood lance crackling with black energy that screamed through the air at the jiang-shi.  The monster almost looked concerned as it extended its arms, palm forward, to block.  

There was a horrendous shrieking as Helena’s cursed bolt strained against the unholy might of the undead.  Helena grinned viciously as the spear moved closer and closer to the undead woman’s chest.

Cold fear shot through the flame in her blood, and her panicked nerves dragged her to the right.  A cold touch dragged against her ribs, and then fresh agony exploded through her body.  She shot upwards, away from the pain.

Another jiang-shi floated in the sky, blood dripping from its long nails.  This one was male, though he was dressed in the same doublet and trousers combination.  The paper talisman controlling its will flapped in the breeze as it hopped in the air to face her.

The chill of fear solidified when the female jiang-shi joined the other monster.  There was a deep wound in the undead woman’s right breast, but the spear hadn’t pierced the heart.  Helena had almost killed it, but no injury would slow down the undead.  The wounded jiang-shi floated forward, waiting with its partner.

Helena held her hand over the cuts and whispered prayers of healing as she continued to retreat.  As she did the two jiang-shi split up, moving to encircle her.  She could defeat one, but not two.  Not now.  Escape was the only option, but they were between her and the ground.  Here in the open air there was no cover, and while she was more maneuverable, the jiang-shi were faster.

Maneuverability.  That was the key.  When they attacked she could use their momentum against them and slip past, escaping to the streets below.  All she had to do was predict their next move.  She slowed, letting the two get closer.

The two bent their knees at the same time, and Helena threw herself towards the distant ground to the left.  As they both pounced she whirled right.  If she could outpace them here she’d be free!

There was a flash next to the female jiang-shi’s feet and suddenly the woman changed her direction.  Vice like fingers grabbed ahold of her shoulders and Helena found herself staring in the woman’s expressionless dark eyes.   She grabbed at her pouch.  She needed a spell.  What could she do?  The jiang-shi opened its mouth, and Helena felt her own breath slipping away.

Cold metal touched her fingers.  A pure sweet tone rang out across the sky, freezing everything in place.  As Helena blinked it sounded again, and again.  The fox bell within Helena’s bag challenged the evil around it, demanding respect for its owner.

Both the undead creatures in the sky shuddered as the cleansing tone of the bell filled the air.  The jiang-shi holding her released its grip, and Helena immediately ran.  She didn’t pause to look back, just flew as fast as she could away.  Her bell triggering was a stroke of luck, but it wouldn’t save her again.  The spirit within wasn’t that merciful.

The city expanded around her as she descended, and Helena aimed for one of the dark alleys.  The lit streets might keep the jiang-shi away, but if their master was willing to make a public spectacle of her she’d be dead in seconds.  She needed to hide.

With a hastily whispered incantation she threw a burst of light behind her, then slipped into the alleyway.  There was refuse everywhere and a stack of barrels partially blocking a boarded up door.  Good enough. Helena slipped in, ducking behind the makeshift wooden barricade.  With luck they wouldn’t find her.

She hid in the darkness, the chill of night slowly leeching the heat of battle from her.  Her back felt every sharp edge in the brick wall, adding their light pain to the stinging cuts on her body.  The aching in her gut made her stomach roil.  Her body began to shiver.

Two meaty thumps echoed from either side of the street.  Bright silk flashed in the moonlight before the wearer hopped further into the alley.  How?  How had they found her?  Helena’s shivering changed to uncontrolled tremors as she curled up to make herself smaller.  How was this possible?!

The figure behind the barrel shifted towards her and she tensed.  She tapped into her will to hold still, not even daring to breathe.  The figure shifted away and she exhaled, her body relaxing.

The creature whirled towards her again and her body locked up.  But her mind kept working.  Breathing.  That was it.  Jiang-shi could see people’s chi through their breath.  No matter where she hid they could find her.  Unless…

She sucked some air into her already burning lungs, then reached into the depths of her magical power.  It was hard.  Working magic without incantations or movements to guide her thoughts always was.  But she could push through and form the words in her mind.  Raw magic crawled through her body, stilling the jittering muscles.  It expanded from her center into her lungs, and as it did Helena changed her lungs.  Making it feed off ambient magic instead of air.

Soon the pain in her chest lessened.  Her spell was a half boiled attempt, which meant her body still thought it needed fresh air.  But she wasn’t suffocating anymore.

The jiang-shi were hopping slowly around the alley now.  Peering behind each sack of trash and into every corner.  Fortunately the lights from outside the alley deepened the darkness within.  Helena could only see the outlines of the jiang-shi’s figures.  The undead would have an even harder time seeing.  But they would still find her eventually.

A door slammed outside the alley, and Helena kicked herself for missing the obvious.  Her flare of light should have drawn a lot of attention.  If nothing else the locals would be coming to yell at the caster for being a public nuisance.  She just needed to draw that attention here.  The jiang-shi might be willing to kill her in public, but a running battle would be going too far.

She was using much of her magic keeping her lungs working, but a curse would be easy.  Helena slowly reached behind her and drew her finger across a cut, bringing fresh blood to the surface.  Carefully she moved and traced runes on the barrel next to her.  Symbols of bad luck, of prey escaping, of misdirection.

The misfortune in the alley responded.  Every curse at the bad smell, every twisted ankle, a brutal beating that happened a month ago.  The miasma roiled up like a dark fog and lapped at the bloody runes, growing fat on her own dark power.  A haze settled over the alley, and the undead creatures twitched.

The sound of heavy footfalls on the cobblestones caused the jiang-shi to pause.  A beam of light shot into the alley from the side, blinding everyone within.  “Hey.  Who’s there?!”

The two jiang-shi hesitated for a moment, probably seeking orders.  Then they leaped out of the alley, disappearing into the sky with the rustle of silk.  The policeman who’d just walked in fumbled with his flashlight, but it was too late to do anything.

Helena let out a sigh of relief as she dispelled the magic that let her hold her breath.  Then she reached into the barrel and used her magic to grab her hat and a loose dress.  If she wasn’t going to be killed she could make some effort to salvage her image.

  The policeman heard her moving around and pointed the flashlight towards her hiding place.  “Show yourself!  What’s going on here?”  A few residents started appearing at either side of the alley as well.  Either curious or part of the local watch.

Now that she was wearing something other than just her shift Helena stood.  Her stomach ached but she turned her hiss of pain into a smile.  “I’m very glad to see you, officer.  I’d like to file a complaint.  Those two woke me up with their noise.  Also they tried to murder me.”

“Murder you?”  The policeman lowered the flashlight a bit as the crowd shifted back.  “Why did they attack you?  And do you know who they are?”

“They attacked me because I’m working with the police to solve the Liang murder,” Helena said.  “I don’t know who they are, but I know what they are and can give a description so your department can hunt them down.”

“The Liang case?  With Inspector Kilduff?”  The man blinked a few times.  “Wait!  You’re the witch the captain hired?”

“Yes.  And I’d like to request sanctuary,” Helena rubbed her stomach.  “My home is apparently no longer safe.”

“Right.” The policeman nodded, then pulled out a pen and paper.  “Do you need an ambulance ma’am?  Or can you walk?”

Helena closed her eyes and mentally took stock of her injuries.  She needed to heal the claw wounds quickly before they festered, and the hit to her gut had probably torn something, but she could heal both now that she wasn’t under attack.  “I’ll be fine.  I can heal as we go.  Just walk slow.”

The officer gave her a careful look over, probably deciding if she was just putting on a brave face.  Fortunately it seemed her injuries didn’t look bad enough for him to call for immediate assistance.  “Right.  I’ll escort you to the next patrol box, and we’ll wait there for transport to the station or the hospital.”  He took a step back as Helena floated her way out of the alley, and pocketed his flashlight.  “Now if you’re up for it, could you describe what happened when those people assaulted you?”

Helena took a deep breath.  The benefits of a civilized society.  She started telling the story in between healing her cuts.

There are two immutable rules of magic :

1 : Magic has no limits.

2 : Magicians have limits.

Forget 1 and you’ll be stuck in mediocrity, forget 2 and you’ll erase yourself from existence.  The line between these two truths is the path of true magic.  The ability to do anything you can conceive.  Or kill yourself trying.

When using true magic, none of the following rules matter.  It’s pure willpower in the moment and understanding of what you’re trying to accomplish.  A magician using true magic can do almost anything within human comprehension, and a little outside of it too.

Most magicians don’t mess with it often.  It’s too dangerous and requires a high emotional state to access most of the time.  Though all magicians who achieve immortality have used it once.  

—

Ritualized magic : So how does less inherently dangerous magic work?  Most spells are descended from ‘life hacks’ given to magicians by gods or other powerful creatures, or true magic that could be formalized into something less dangerous.  Once you do something with magic the universe shrugs and says ‘fine, that’s possible.’  But unlike true magic there are a lot more restrictions.

1) Base resistance : Reality doesn’t like being broken.  The more ‘unreal’ people find a spell the more difficult it becomes.

This is both the weakest and most random restriction.  In high magic realms, people will just nod and say ‘Okay.  That’s magic so sure.”  Similarly in any realm where magic exists there’s always that sneaking suspicion that maybe a magician could do something so utterly insane.

Magicians frequently ‘explain’ their spells, or use tricks to make things seem more ‘rational’ to reduce this resistance.  Mostly just to make minor tasks easier.

2) Personal resistance : For some reason people attempt to resist being set on fire or turned into a pig.  The more damaging a spell is the more humans try to resist, calling up willpower they didn’t realize they had to survive.  This is why it’s much easier to throw a ball of fire at someone then set them aflame with a nasty look.

Ritual connections, like blood or hair clippings, allow magicians to weaken this resistance.  Getting someone to accept enspelled food or hitting them with a spell as a way of ‘counting coup’ can nearly eliminate it.

3) Understanding : The less you understand what you’re doing and how you’re doing it, the harder it is to pull off.  Obviously if you have no clue what you’re doing you’re totally screwed.  But even something as simple as creating a wooden ball can be messy if you don’t know what makes different types of wood unique, and aren’t sure how to structure the grain.

Study obviously helps with understanding what you want to do.  In addition a lot of mages use association to help focus their minds on desired effects.  For example using medicinal herbs in a spell allows a magician to understand the idea of healing better.  But in the end there are always gaps in understanding that have to be papered over with magical power.

This point tends to be the biggest factor of a spell’s ‘difficulty.’  A lot of the difference between magical schools comes from how well each school’s ideology explains different facets of magic.  Most spells are built to focus on understanding.

—-

So how do you deal with restrictions other than working around them?  Well just as there’s three restrictions, there’s three ways of getting past them.  The latter two are major factors in magic on a day to day basis.

1) Power : Just as people have physical strength, they also have magical strength.  Most people don’t have much, but those related to supernatural creatures tend to have a good chunk.  Power is great when you’re learning, because you can brute force a lot of weaker spells.  But it tapers off very quickly.  And the natural advantages people like Helena have from being related to gods get washed away quickly by the general boost becoming immortal gives.

Power can be trained just like strength, but in general the benefits are so tiny it is better for a high ranking magician to practice anything else.  Its main benefit is that powerful mages like Helena can push the limits of their spellcasting skills longer than weaker ones like Lyudmila.  Something easily compensated for with more efficient casting.

It’s also good in beam struggles, but that’s asking to get blindsided.

2) Time : The more time a magician spends the better a result they can achieve.  Part of it is the ability to gather more power and the sacrifice of the time itself.  But the results are bigger than those factors alone would account for.  Many magicians speculate spending more time acclimates reality to the spell’s results.

Simply put the longer a magician spends working on a spell the stronger it gets, and the more likely it is to succeed.  Time can also be ‘stored up’ by crafting items or ritual circles, though it’s a little less efficient.

Pouring time into a spell is also risky however.  The longer you spend on something the more chances you have to make a mistake.  Spend three hours chanting and you’ll likely screw up a word.  Spend a sleepless night scrawling runes and chances are you botch something.  And of course if you try charging up in a fight DBZ style someone will probably stab you.

3) Sacrifice : You’ve got to spend to gain.  The quickest way to build up your spells is to use expensive ingredients, offering blood, or otherwise sacrificing something to gain an edge.  The more valuable the sacrifice the bigger the boost.  Throwing money at research is a common tactic for people trying to gain better understanding of certain spells.  You learn the expensive way first and then refine.

Still there are strong limitations here.  You can’t just throw money at a spell (unless it’s a spell to bribe someone).  Sacrifice needs to be focused by ritual towards the spell’s goals.  Randomly injecting 100 dollars worth of gold dust into someone’s veins to cure a disease will usually be less effective than giving them 5 cents worth of ginseng.  And while ritual human sacrifice will get a lot of power, it does limit the kind of spells that will work alongside it.

The cavern beneath Chinatown was only a short walk from the fairy rings.  The subterranean area was much larger than its aboveground equivalent, and the brightly colored signs and magical trinkets were replaced by crimson lanterns and bone white murals.  Even stranger was the bay.  Beyond the undercity’s houses, warehouses and portal gates was a black slick of water.  Impossible given that the oceanfront was under the waters of the bay but the twisted space of the Immigrant Realm made it reality.  The area below Chinatown was perhaps the most traveled of the underground realms, by both humans and mystical beings.

“We start searching the docks?” Helena asked.

“I told you, we can’t be searching the docks closely without a warrant,” Inspector Kilduff said as he stomped out the remains of his cigarette.  “Now you stand back and let me do some real policing.  Unless you’ve got another contact up your sleeve.”

Helena winced as she considered the other person she could talk to.  “I do, but let’s try your methods first.”  The less she owed that woman the better.

“Someone even a witch doesn’t want to talk to?”  Kilduff sniffed.  “Well the person must be either a saint or the worst scum of the city.  I almost want to see them, but it’s time for some real work.  Hurry along lass.  The opium dens are just closing so now’s the best time to squeeze people for information.”  Kilduff set out and Helena followed.

The Chinese underground was far more diverse than the Japanese underground.  Not only were there mystical creatures from across the lands, but the humans here were varied as well.  China’s history stretched back further than most countries, and each group had a realm all to themselves.  The underground here reflected that.

Helena didn’t get to see much of that diversity though.  In the shadowed slums and shanty towns there seemed to be more cats than people.  Laundry lines and rotting wood planks filled the small alleys between houses, and even the monkey like yaoguai moved in packs for safety.

Kilduff stuck to those abandoned paths.  He moved through alleys seemingly at random, before stopping behind a house built from well crafted wooden planks.  He rapped heavily on the door three times, then stepped back and waited.

The door opened quickly, revealing a balding Asian man in a t-shirt and jeans.  He looked like a lost tourist.  “What do you want-” the man froze when he saw Kilduff.  “I have nothing to say to people who aren’t customers.”

As the man began to close the door Kilduff walked forward and blocked it with his foot.  “That’s too bad Mr. Chin, because if you don’t have anything to say to me, I’ll have to talk to your parole officer.  And from where I’m standing I bet you have three violations just this second.”

Chin shrank away, but a thin lipped woman came up behind him.  She immediately tore into Chin in Cantonese.  “You idiot!  Get this cop away immediately!  What are we paying you for?!”

It would be best to intervene quickly.  Helena pulled out one of the yellow paper slips from her pouch and waved it so it would catch the woman’s eye.  “Don’t interfere.  Unless you want bad luck to follow you for the next twelve years.”

The woman paled and retreated back into the house.  Kilduff gave her a glare but turned his focus back on Chin.  “Tell me about the jiang-shi.”

Chin flinched.  The man began to rub his hands together and look around the alleyway, searching for signs of other watchers.  “I don’t know anything.”

Kilduff leaned on the door.  “Well now, that’s a bit of a problem.  I might have to wait around for you to remember if you’ve forgotten.”

A low hiss escaped Chin as he shivered beneath the policeman’s glare.  “I don’t know anything!  People who know about the Living Dragon tend to turn up in the harbor drained to a husk.  None of the river punks know anything either.  He’s a real wizard, not some bone tosser.  The Tong ain’t going to let just anyone around their new pet mage.”

Kilduff eyed the frightened man up and down for a long while.  Finally he stepped back and let go of the door.  “Best hope I don’t learn you were lying Mr. Chin.  Paperwork is easy to file.  And don’t do anything stupid.”

“Just leave me alone gwailo,” Chin muttered before slamming the door.  The heavy click of the bolt being thrown suggested the place was now closed for business.

“Think he was telling the truth?” Helena asked.

Kilduff gave her a wary look.  “What?  Didn’t you use some of your devilry to read his mind?”

“Was I supposed to?” Helena asked.  “Because if you want that you need to ask beforehand.  Also you’ll need to find a different witch, I can only read the surface thoughts of calm people.”

“No you weren’t supposed to.”  Kilduff said.  “And it gives me a bit of hope that there’s a limit to your tricks.”  He took a deep breath and turned to gaze at the waterfront.  “I think he was telling the truth, in his mind.  I doubt that no one knows about this Long Zhou Di though.  Chin there is a patsy.  Out of towner who works here because he can’t cut it in the big city.  A small fish, but easy to catch.

“Let’s see what the bigger fish know,” Kilduff said as he began walking down the streets again.

Unfortunately, it seemed Chin wasn’t the only person out of the loop.  Everyone Kilduff bribed, pressed, or cajoled seemed to have the same answer.  They knew who the magician was, but they didn’t know where he lived or what he was doing.  And no threat, coin, or offer of assistance changed that fact.

It was late afternoon when Kilduff finally deflated and pulled out another cigarette.  “Seems police work isn’t going to win today.  A black eye on my reputation for sure.”  He turned to Helena.  “So who’s this final contact of yours?”

Normally Kilduff’s failure would bring Helena a bit of warmth but the thought of speaking with that woman again meant she mostly just felt a little queasy.  “Follow me,” she sighed.  “And keep your pistol handy.”

She walked up away from the docks where they’d been searching, towards the shanties at the edge of the portal gates.  Those mystical circles allowed magicians, even dabblers, to traverse the realms with a certain level of ease.  But dimensional travel was still dangerous for the careless, so every now and then someone would kill themselves and everyone they were traveling with in a strange and horrific magical accident.  On the surface the area around the gates was left empty.  Down here there was no government to stop the poor and desperate from building homes in the area, and so that’s where the poor and desperate ended up.

Helena led Kilduff into the midst of that tangled mass of shacks and remains from magical accidents.  Her goal was easy to spot.  An airplane wing sat embedded in the rock visible for all to see.  Helena navigated towards the dark orifice where the jets once had been in the wing.

As she got within thirty feet of her goal, the bell within her pouch rang out.  Kilduff looked around at the sudden unexpected chime, but that simply meant the person she wanted to meet was present.

A few moments after the bell sounded her approach, a delicate hand appeared out of the hole in the wing.  With slow practiced movements a stunningly beautiful woman with fox ears and four long luxuriant white tails pulled herself out of the makeshift shelter.  The woman’s low cut dress was a little dusty, but her hair and long nails were exquisitely styled.  Helena sensed Kilduff tense beside her as the woman yawned and stretched.

Finally the fox woman turned her golden eyes to Helena.  “Why are you here little witch?  You’re disturbing my rest.  I was out so late last night.”  She looked over at Kilduff.  “And why have you brought such a boring person along?”

“You know her?” Helena asked out of the corner of her mouth.

“Aye.” Kilduff said as he loosened his gun.  “Kim Sui An.  Kills a man every month.”

Sui An smiled sweetly, showing her long canines.  “In self defense officer.  Always in self defense.”  She gave an exaggerated pout.  “It’s such a shame that a poor woman like myself is constantly assaulted just for taking a stroll out late at night.  You police should really do more to keep the riff raff in check.”

Kilduff glared at the fox woman.  “You lure them into alleys pretending to be a whore, then insult them until they attack you.”

Sui An blew a kiss.  “Still legal.”

“You should probably teach those idiots not to let their groin guide them.  It’s pretty pathetic if they get caught when she’s not using magic,” Helena muttered.  She turned her attention to the fox.  “I came here to ask you a few questions.”

“Is that so?”  Sui An slinked forward.  Helena forced herself not to flinch away as the fox woman cupped her chin in a hand.  There was a sharp pressure against Helena’s carotid artery as Sui An whispered.  “And what makes you think I’ll do anything for you, you human loving, Japanese trained witch?”

Helena locked eyes with the fox woman.  “Three reasons.  One, because I’m a priestess of Hecate, which means I can blast you with lightning then summon hounds to rip you apart whenever I have a passing whim.  Two, because you hate humans in general more than you hate me and the thought of me killing a bunch of people amuses you.  Three, because even though you’re a kumiho and not a kitsune, the Tamamo family still has influence with fox demons, and helping me will earn you their favor as usual.”

Sui An’s smile faded a bit, and she pulled her hand away from Helena.  “Very well.  Ask your question, witch.”

“We’re seeking the magician Long Zhou Di the Living Dragon, or a jiang-shi he controls,” Helena said.  “Tell us where to find either of those and I’ll pay you the usual.”

“Well well well.  It’s my lucky day.”  Sui An tapped her chin with a finger.  “My ex-boyfriend just happened to work at a warehouse under the protection of a young magician.  Given you’re searching for him instead of using magic to find them, I’d guess that might be what you’re looking for.”

Kilduff’s eyes remained fixed on Sui An.  “What happened to this boyfriend of yours?”

“He dumped me to chase after a mermaid,” Sui An said.  “It was a deliciously tragic breakup.  Too bad she found out about his two timing and dumped him as well.”

Helena and Kilduff exchanged a grim look.  Questioning the boyfriend was likely impossible without necromancy.  Maybe not even then depending on what type of man eating horror Sui An’s mermaid friend actually was.

“What warehouse?” Helena asked.

“Warehouse four past the left shipwreck,” Sui An replied.  “He was complaining about it being bad luck.”

Kilduff snorted.  “Seems like he was right.”

Sui An gave a shrug.  “Maybe.”  She leaned forward and extended a hand.  “I’ve given you your information, so I’d like my payment.”

Helena grimaced, but the kumiho had fulfilled the bargain.  She pulled off her hat and reached into it, following the faint lines of power.  The connection between her and this place was weak, but the unnatural stillness that filled the line made it easy to find.  Her hand felt like it was plunging into glue when she grabbed the item, and it took some effort to pull away, but Helena persisted.  She’d done this before.

Finally she pulled out her prize.  A bloody hunk of meat wrapped in tea leaves.  She handed it over to the kumiho.  “Enjoy.”

“I believe I will,” Sui An replied.  She gave the two a wink before unwrapping the bloody morsel.

Helena turned around before the kumiho could make a show of eating it.  “Let’s go.”  She started walking out of the portal grounds as fast as her legs would take her.

Kilduff soon caught up to her.  “That had best not have been human meat,” he hissed.

“No,” Helena replied.  “It’s not human.  I can promise that.”  It was almost certainly from something sentient, but she didn’t want to figure out what.

The Inspector continued glaring at her until they made it out of the shantytown, but when he spoke up again it was all business.  “So, ten in the morning tomorrow.  That is if you want to see this ended.”

“Ten?”  Helena looked up at the officer.  “Doesn’t that give the Triads time to run?”

“The judge won’t be in until nine,” Kilduff said.  “I get the warrant, ready the lads, and move out immediately.  If it were a small place we’d be sure to be walking in on an empty room, but a warehouse takes a while to clean out.”

“They’ve got a magician,” Helena pointed out.  “He might be able to empty the place fast.”

The Inspector grimaced and looked down at her.  “Could you do that?”

Helena shrugged.  “Right now?  No.  But if I was in charge of a warehouse filled with stolen goods, I’d learn very fast.  Magicians aren’t stupid.  I already have a few ideas.”

Kilduff stared at the ground, considering things.  “Will the bastard have to be at the warehouse to do all that witchery?”

The question rattled around Helena’s mind for a bit.  “The easiest plan would be to set up an escape portal.  That’s a feng-shui ritual, and he has to know it.”

“And now for the important question, can he use that to escape himself?” Kilduff asked.

“Yes, though he’ll have to anchor it to a fixed location.  That means he’d wind up where he sent the goods, and he’d have to abandon the artifacts he used to set up the spell.”

“Good.  Then I’ll set something else up as well.”  Kilduff nodded to himself in satisfaction.  “Ten AM.  Don’t be late now.”

“What’s your plan?” Helena asked.

Kilduff waved his hand vaguely about.  “You don’t need to know that, lass.  Nor does anyone who might be listening in.  Go home and dream of the money you swindled our captain out of.”

“Fine.”  Helena decided that was a secret that could wait until tomorrow.  “I’ll be there.”  She’d want to rest up before tangling with another magician anyway.

Helena felt utterly miserable as she dragged herself out of her bed.  She had stayed up late reading over the information she’d gathered on the Living Dragon, Long Zhou Di, but the bright light of early summer should have infused her with energy.  Instead she felt like someone had replaced her blood with tar.  As the rest of the people in the apartment began walking off to their day jobs, Helena drank two cups of tea to recover her wits.

With the tea in her system her blood started flowing again and she grabbed her traveling pouch.  She also pocketed a few small spell charms that would allow her to unleash devastating and complex spells quickly.  The chances of her encountering either the jiang-shi or the Living Dragon were slim, but she didn’t want to be unprepared.

That done she slipped out of the house and into the bustling streets.  In local parlance this was ‘Rush Hour.’  Carts, wagons, cars and floating carpets all got in each other’s way on the narrow streets, while pedestrians like Helena dodged those obstacles.  Even a witch’s hat wasn’t protection from the mob of people.  Fortunately she managed to avoid anyone stepping on her feet.  She had to dodge the offal thrown at a rude carpet owner who took to the skies but other than that the journey was uneventful.

She arrived at the police station around eight in the morning to find Kilduff standing in front of the buildings in his patrol uniform.  As Helena walked towards him he held up the message she’d sent to him after her meeting with Gold Rat Hsu.  “So, what nonsense is this, and why should we believe a word of it?”

“Internal Triad politics nonsense.  And we use it because it’s all we’ve got.   Unless you’re hoping Zeus gets lowered down on a crane to fix everything,” Helena replied.

“This story sounds like an old man trying to get rid of an upstart, not a solution to our case,” Kilduff said.  “How do we know Ling Wei Hsu isn’t just sending us to arrest some middling fortune teller?”

Helena adjusted her hat.  “I’ve confirmed that Long Zhou Di is a true magician specializing in Taoism.  I also confirmed he claimed the title of Living Dragon via combat, before vanishing from the Middle Kingdoms within the last year.  The story checks out.”

Kilduff raised an eyebrow.  “Oh?  Well now, that is something.  Good enough to question him.  Better than arresting him for not talking to immigration when he moved in.”

“He snuck into the realm?” Helena asked.  “Is he trying to be suspicious?”

Kilduff nodded.  “Either that or the chaps at Immigration lost the records.  They don’t do that as often as they used to now that they have their new computers.   But given the Triads are involved it might be possible someone got distracted by a fair sum of money and dropped the paperwork.”

“You’re certain the Triads are responsible for the murder?” Helena said.  “It’s rare for a true magician to act as a hit man.  For normal humans anyway.  And those that do tend to be more subtle.”

“Aye.  While you were chatting with their pet wizard, the boys across the river finally did something useful and looked into Liang’s finances.”  Kilduff shook his head.  “Daft fool had taken out a loan, then tried to pay them back with money instead of the favors he promised.  The Triads on this side of the river killed the man in exchange for a few boxes of Big Apple weapons.  They know our poor crew is stretched thin and we’d have the devil’s own time catching them, so they got cocky.”

Helena nodded slowly.  That all made sense.  “This murder must be Long Zhou Di’s first assignment.  A way of proving himself.”

“Sounds right, given how badly he botched the job.  A little more careful and we’d still be spinning our wheels.  Did you learn anything else useful about him?” Kilduff said.

Helena considered what Kilduff might consider useful.  “He likes disabling other magicians and running them through with a sword.  Barbaric but effective.”

“So, let’s pretend we find the man.  How can we prove he’s the killer?” Kilduff asked.

“Easy.  We find the jiang-shi,” Helena said.  “Jiang-shi are simple to control, but the type used in the murder are expensive.  You don’t make one and leave it in a warehouse just in case you need an unstoppable undead monster later.  He’ll keep it close.”

The Inspector nodded.  “So if we find the monster we’ve got the murder weapon.”

“Pretty much.”  Helena replied.  “He’ll probably try to kill us when we get near, but that will just make the job easier.”

“Which means we have to find this Long Zhou Di.” Kilduff said.  “The hard way, since I imagine your witchery is no use against another of Satan’s favored.”

“My battle spells work fine.  But yes, we’ll need to search for him.  I suggest we search the underground.  That’s the best place to hide an undead monster,” Helena said.  “Specifically, you’re going to search the underground, and I’m going to talk to my contacts.”

Helena was starting to notice the difference in Kilduff’s glares.  The one he was giving her now was resigned annoyance.  “So I do the police work and find out everything, and then you get a lucky break and steal my thunder?  That’s the plan, lass?”

“I could search myself, but that would involve illegally breaking into Triad buildings and you’d probably stop me,” Helena said with a shrug.  “In any case we’d best get started.  One of the people I need to speak to isn’t as talkative after noon.”

“Fine.  But we’re taking the market roads,” Kilduff said.  “I’m not taking a march through the sewers for this little snipe hunt.  I like these boots.”

Helena smirked.  “Why not just fly?”

Kilduff began walking towards the market.  “I used to wonder why they burned witches.  Now I wonder why the church was first.”

“Well witchcraft is illegal back home,” Helena admitted.  “But as a follower of Hecate I have special dispensation.  Also everyone who tried arresting me or my family got turned into a pig.”

“The prosecutors are a sorry lot of cowards in every realm it seems,” Kilduff muttered as he tromped along.

The “market road” was a large alley with an oversized open sewer grate at the end.  Right now a woman with a neck as long as her body and a human sized rabbit with opposable thumbs were lowering a crate into the hole.  Kilduff and Helena queued up behind them.  “I wonder who dug this tunnel,” Helena mused as they waited for the path to clear.

“One of them giant spider people,” Kilduff replied.  He gave her a derisive sniff when she peered up at him.  “Don’t give me that look, girl.  It’s my job to know what goes on in this city.  And the market roads are a big part of that.  Just because you don’t see us walking the sewers doesn’t mean we aren’t there.”

“You have enough people to do that?” Helena said.  “You have to be spread thin.”

The Inspector turned his attention back to the hole before them.  “Aye, well maybe if the bloody fools across the river sent us people who want to help instead of lazy bastards who stand around admiring their guns we could do better.  But the lads try.”  The inspector pulled out a cigarette and lit it.

The bitterness in the man’s voice cut through his usual bluster.  Helena studied the man as he smoked.  “It is a little strange how many of the police are from the opposite side of the river.  And why hasn’t anyone from the Immigrant Realms been chosen as captain?”

Kilduff just kept smoking.  Helena left him to his thoughts, only sparing a rune to keep the tobacco smoke away from the rest of the crowd.  Eventually the two youkai ahead of them finished getting down their crate.  As Kilduff walked up to take the ladder, Helena just hopped into the pit.

She fell past concrete, then dirt, into caves of stone.  The city above was actually only half of the Immigrant Realm.  Here the monsters who would not or could not walk among humanity lived their lives.  They popped up occasionally to sell their wares at market or tour the city at night, before returning to the thriving community below.  An intricate tunnel system allowed the thousands of mystical creatures that lived within the island to move about.  Just as the Immigrant Realm was a strange place of magic to the people of the Big Apple across the river, the tunnels below were where those too strange and mystical for the surface lived.

As Kilduff arrived she reached into her pouch for a bit of grave dirt and used it to trace a character in the air.  A ball of blue ghost flame appeared with a dull thump.  Nothing that would drive away the dark shadows of the tunnel, but enough that the Inspector could see.  Helena normally would use a charm to see in the dark, but that meant the Kilduff would have to use his flashlight.  Bright lights were impolite in these realms, and Helena wasn’t going to act like a clueless human.  She was a magician, which meant she could expend a little effort to be polite.  If she chose to.

Kilduff eyed her summoned light with disdain, but after a moment he simply started down the tunnel.  “Right witch.  Where does this contact of yours live?”

“One of the connecting tunnels between Japantown and Chinatown,” Helena replied. “Since we’ll end up below Chinatown anyway I figured we could take the long route.”

“It would have been faster to walk through the 8th street tunnel,” Kilduff pointed out.

“True,” Helena admitted.  “But I hate wandering through the Underworld passages.  I don’t know anything about the monsters and demons of the Americas, and that’s dangerous.  Last time I had eight creatures attack me while I was passing through.  Without even inviting me for tea after the fight.”

Kilduff seemed amused by that.  “Oh?  Afraid of your own medicine, lass?  Me and my fellows never have any trouble walking through there.”

“You’re the police, no one expects you to know anything or show any respect,” Helena retorted.  “People expect mages to know better.”  She grimaced.  “And they enjoy roughing up those of us from the European realms.  They consider it payback for getting kicked off the ‘real’ Earth.  And they aren’t really interested in hearing excuses like ‘Spain didn’t even exist when my realm formed.'”

“A pity it is, that the demons fight with the pagans and lose,” Kilduff said.  “Sad and shameful really.”

Helena rolled her eyes and just kept walking.  At least their fellow travelers were giving them some space.  Aside from a few curious looks from a pair of sandal youkai most of the demons gave them a respectful distance.  She hadn’t told Kilduff but Helena was mildly infamous in the Lands of Illusion.  In addition the youkai had more respect for magicians than most mystical creatures. 

After about a mile the passage opened into a cavern.  Blue ghost lights flickered everywhere, some natural, some summoned by the locals for light.  Houses, ranging from wooden shanties to solidly built scrap buildings filled the place.  It looked like a slum compared to the city up above, but from her limited excursions down here Helena knew that was deceiving.  The buildings might have been scrabbled together from whatever lumber that people could find, but the craftsmanship was as good as anything above ground, for good or ill.  The brick edifices above were just better at hiding their flaws.

Helena was about to walk into the cavern when two massive figures stepped out shadows at either side of the cave.  They stood as tall as a cyclops, and each wore robes of tiger skin.  One had bright red skin and a single horn, while the other’s skin was blue with two horns.  The crowd silently scattered as the two loomed over Helena and cracked their knuckles.

“Hey, Gouki,” the red oni said in Japanese.  “Looks like we might have a troublemaker here.”

The blue oni replied, “Think you might be right, Fuuki.”  He took a ponderous step towards her.  “So what are you doing here, little witch?”

Helena looked up at the two in annoyance.  “It’s me.  Helena.  The joke was funny the first time, but the fortieth is starting to wear a bit thin.”  She flipped out one of her nastier scrolls.  “Unless you’re looking for a beating?”

“What’s all this then?”  Inspector Kilduff said as he stepped forward.

Surprisingly the two oni immediately relaxed and stepped back.  “Oh, Inspector.  We didn’t notice you there,” Gouki said in English.

Kilduff eyed both the oni.  “Weren’t you two lads laying it on a bit thick there?  I understand never trusting a witch, but you can’t be acting like thugs either.”

“That?”  Gouki laughed.  “We only do that to Helena.  She’s got a big name back in the Realm of Illusion so we give her a hard time to keep her honest.”  Helena tapped her foot in annoyance.

“Gotta keep our oni pride,” Fuuki added.

“Oh!”  The Inspector smiled widely again.  “Well then that’s all right.  Keep up the good work lads.”

Fuuki and Gouki laughed and gave casual salutes.  “Sure thing officer.  Need anything else?”

“We’re looking for a jiang-shi,” Helena interjected, trying to salvage a bit of her pride.  “Someone’s been using one to commit murders.”

The two oni looked surprised at that.  Even more so when Inspector Kilduff nodded his head in agreement.  Gouki looked at his friend.  “You see anything like that?”

“No.  No jiang-shi.  Plenty of other hopping youkai, but a jiang-shi would stand out,” Fuuki said.  “If we see one, we’ll send word.  But if there is one around they aren’t using these tunnels.”

“There’s a Taoist magician involved so they might try a disguise,” Helena said.  “I have no idea how good he is but…”

Gouki nodded.  “Illusions won’t work on oni.  We’ll be on our guard.”   They were overestimating themselves, but it was much harder to trick an oni with magic then it was to fool humans.

“Good lads,” Inspector Kilduff said.  “Anything you and your neighborhood watch have that you want my boys to handle?”

“Nothing new,” Gouki said.  Fuuki nodded in agreement.  “Been pretty quiet down here.  O-bon’s coming so the ghosts are preparing.  And the priestess has kept things calm, so there shouldn’t be any trouble.”

Kilduff nodded.  “We’ll be on our way then.  A good day to you two.”

“Later,” Helena said to the oni.  “I’ll bring some soybeans next time.”

The two laughed at that.  “You’re supposed to throw oni out of your home, not out of their home!” Gouki said.

“Go paste that Taoist,” Fuuki added with a grin.

Helena sighed as they moved on.  “Oni.”

“A nice sort, for how demonic they look,” Kilduff said.  “Fine lads in a pinch.”

Helena looked over at the Inspector.  He really had no idea did he?  “How did you get them to listen to you?  Much less join a neighborhood watch?  They’re oni.  Some of the most skilled, strong, and contrary youkai races in existence.  They only respect me because I fought one to a draw when I was a kid.  They could set up their own police department if they wanted to.”

“Well those lads back there used to work as cops for some pagan gods or something before they came here,” Kilduff said.  “And we set up the neighborhood watch, oh, fifty years back.  I inherited the thing you see.”  He shrugged.  “Had to put in a few hours walking the streets before they saw me as an equal instead of a paper pusher, but they’re less unruly than some.”

Helena’s studied Kilduff again.  She’d known he was decently competent at his job, but she might have underestimated him a little.  Oni were lazy, but if they actually tried they could beat most humans in any field.  Fighting one usually required a dozen warriors and a priest.  The fact that he had earned their respect on his own suggested he had a lot more skill then he’d let on.

“Is there anyone you need to speak to here, or should we move on?” Helena asked.

Kilduff looked down at her.  “The people here aren’t going to know about some Chinese assassin, lass.  We’re only here because you wanted to take the long way.”

Helena began walking towards the connecting tunnels.  “Then we should hurry.  It would be annoying if we showed up after the sunlight changed.”

The two wandered through the low cavern, making sure to stay at the outskirts away from traffic.  Occasionally people would look at them, but mostly because of Kilduff’s uniform.  For every animated teacup, animal spirit, and hunched over goblinoid, there was someone who looked human.  Some of them probably even were human, or at least had once been human.  Humanity was more malleable in some realms.

Helena passed the first tunnel to the area beneath Chinatown, then took a smaller branch off the second one.  The passage took several bends then seemed to end suddenly.  Kilduff stopped.  “What’s this?  You planning to tunnel through solid rock, girl?”

“No,” Helena replied.  “I’m going to walk through that illusionary wall.”

It was easier said than done of course.  As Helena stepped forward her eyes involuntarily snapped towards the cavern wall.  Her nose could smell the mildew on the wall so well she could practically taste it, and the sound from behind her faintly echoed off the stone in front.  Every sense screamed at her that this was the end of the passage, and the only thing she could look forward to by continuing was a bruise on her face from running into the rock ahead.

That was how she could tell it was an illusion.  It was trying way too hard to announce its presence.  Real walls didn’t care if you walked face first into them, something many people found out the hard way.

She ignored her senses and pressed on, willing herself to run into the stone before her.  The rock wall loomed larger and larger in her vision, and then was gone.  The passage continued on towards a gleaming shaft of light.

Helena took a few steps forward and waited while Inspector Kilduff stared at the illusionary wall and muttered curses.  Finally the policeman closed his eyes and stepped quickly forward.  Helena moved aside and let him move about five feet towards the tunnel’s actual wall, before the man opened his eyes.

“Too bad.  You were so close,” Helena said with a smirk.

“Aren’t we funny?” Kilduff muttered.  “Seems more like a shee prank then a Japanese one.”  He broke out another cigarette and looked at it before putting it away with a frown.

Helena shrugged and continued on towards the light ahead.  The truth would be revealed soon enough.

The tunnel opened up into a small clearing filled with rays of light streaming in from above.  This area did connect to the sewers, though the sections above were long out of use.  The grate to the surface shattered the light into patches, while allowing water to drip down from above.  Where the water fell rings of mushrooms grew in the maze of light and shadow.

Kilduff looked at the fungus.  “Fairy rings?”

“Yes,” Helena replied.  She looked over at a rock that sat at the edge of the cavern.  “Complete with fairies.  You all can come out now.”

“Aw, she caught us,” a childish voice said.  A short figure hopped out from behind the rock, invisibility sliding from its form.  The three foot tall woman looked like a human, except for the gossamer wings and jet black eyes.  Two more butterfly winged girls peaked out from an alcove eight feet up, and then the room was filled with fairies.  About fourteen of the fey creatures whirled around, their brightly colored wings brightening the cavern.

The largest one, a four foot tall woman with moth wings and short silver hair flew right past Kilduff to confront the fairy who Helena had called out.  “I told you not to hide there Echoey Shade.  Helena always finds the fairy behind the rock!”

Echoey Shade stomped her foot in the air.  “Everyone knows that!  That’s why it’d be a surprise this time!  You must have given me away Shadow Gleam!”

“I didn’t give you away.  She’d be expecting us to surprise her, so she’d look in the place that she wouldn’t think to look!” Shadow Gleam said.

As the argument between the fairies drifted further and further from rationality Kilduff leaned next to her.  “Your contacts are fairies?!  Pixies?!”

“Correct,” Helena said.  She stepped up and waved her arms to get the fairy crowd’s attention.  “Sorry to interrupt, but I have a few questions if you don’t mind.”  She pulled out a pack of cookies.  “I brought snacks.”

Cheers resounded through the room as the fairies all started flying around her.  Shadow Gleam moved to the front.  “Anything we can do to help a geased child, Helena.”  The fairy leader’s mouth opened in surprise.  “Oh!  Right!”  She spun around to look at another shadowy corner of the room.  “You can come out, Champi.  This is Helena.  One of the geased children!  She’s a friend.”

Helena was surprised to see a small fairy, only about a foot tall with feathery wings, appear near the ceiling.  The tiny girl pointed at Kilduff.  “Who’s he?”

The crowd of fairies froze then turned as one to look at the policeman.  Kilduff politely tipped his hat to the fairy crowd.  “Inspector Ryan Kilduff.  A pleasure to meet you fair folk.”

“We’re working together on a murder case,” Helena said.  The words felt awkward, however true.

“Ooooooh.”  The fairy crowd seemed impressed with his credentials.  That was a good sign.  Curiosity meant they weren’t afraid.  If the skittish crew scattered it might take hours to get them calmed down.  Kilduff had hit the right notes.

A blue haired fairy suddenly jumped another foot into the air.  “Wait?!  The police?!  You’ll never take me alive copper!”

Kilduff looked shocked, but years of unusual situations had him recover quickly.  “Oh?  What do you have to hide then, lass?”

“You won’t catch me!” the fairy cried before the two fairies next to her tackled their comrade yelling about a citizen’s arrest.  That was also a good sign.  The more frivolous the crew was the safer they felt.

Helena turned away from the farce playing out behind her and smiled at Champi.  “As you can see everything’s perfectly safe.”

“That’s good,” the little pixie said with a smile before hovering over and hugging Helena’s shoulder.  Helena felt the small curses that normally surrounded her fade away under the fairy’s good nature, and she couldn’t help but smile and ruffle Champi’s hair.  Young fairies were so cute!

She looked up at Shadow Gleam.  “When did she arrive?”

“The stork brought her a month ago!” Shadow said proudly.  “It’s a sign we’re good fairies!”

“Mostly good fairies,” Champi said, looking over at the mess the other fairies had gotten themselves into.

Helena peeked over to see Inspector Kilduff had deputized the two fairies who’d ‘captured’ the one trying to escape and was now asking questions.  “So lass, tell me again why I should be trying to catch you?”

“I don’t have to say anything!” The fairy proclaimed loudly.  “I know my rights!  The third amendment says I can be quiet.”

“That’s about quartering troops in your house,” Kilduff replied.

“What about diming, or nickeling?” one of the deputies asked.

Helena turned back to Champi.  “I’m sure it was a misdemeanor at worst.”  The young pixie nodded happily at Helena’s pronouncement.  The little one was learning fast.

“So this is fun and all, but what did you want to ask us?” Shadow said.  “We aren’t really strong, and I’m only really super smart when the sun’s right, but we’re always happy to help a friend of the fair folk.”

“I’m hunting a jiang-shi.  A hopping vampire in your language,” Helena said.  “It’s a life drinker, so it’ll feel bad to you.  I was wondering if anyone’s seen it, or if you noticed any new places that felt dangerous.”

Shadow thought for a moment.  “I know none of us have seen something like that.  And there aren’t any new icky places.  Just the places where the hungry ghosts live and the underground docks.”

“The docks are scary,” Champi said.  “They made everyone feel sick.”

“I suppose they were a little worse than normal,” Shadow said.  “But I mean there’s a lot of warehouses down there.  And the humans at the far docks murder people.”

Helena nodded.  That sounded like a possible lead, if a vague one.  “The docks?  Well thanks for the help.”  She handed one cookie to Champi and the rest to Shadow to distribute.  “You’ve been a good friend.  Thanks Shadow Gleam.  And thank you too, Champi.”

“You’re welcome,” the little fairy said before flittering back to her hidey hole.

“No problem!”  Shadow Gleam beamed proudly.  “Any time you need help like this just ask!  And bring more cookies.”

Helena chuckled.  “I’ll do so.”  She decided to visit more often even if she didn’t need help.  If Champi really had been brought by the stork then this little fairy crew was going to expand quite a bit.  And that meant Shadow Gleam was going to evolve as well.  It was going to be a very interesting experience for the group.

They both turned to where Inspector Kilduff’s investigation was going.  “Twenty First amendment?” the captive asked.

“That’s prohibition,” Kilduff replied.

Helena coughed.  “We should move on, Inspector.”

“Right.”  The tall man leaned down and waved his finger in the captive fairy’s face.  “I’ll be letting you go this time.  But don’t be getting funny ideas.  Crime will only trip you up in the end.”

“Eh we’re just letting her go?” One of the two ‘deputies’ said.  “Booooring.”

Inspector Kilduff frowned at her.  “None of that now deputy.  We have to uphold the law, even if it isn’t the easy thing to do.  The devil can hide behind the rules, but if it keeps him honest then we’ve still done our job.”  He gave Helena a look at that, but there was a twinkle in the man’s eye Helena hadn’t seen there before.

“Right Inspector!”  The deputized fairies saluted.  They’d probably abuse their power for around three hours before they forgot all about it.

“Well girls, you have fun now.”  The Inspector tipped his hat again then walked over to Helena as Shadow Gleam moved to pass out the cookies.  “You get any information?”

“It sounds like the docks might be our best bet,” Helena said.  “If we walk around the buildings I’m certain I can figure out where our magician is.”

The playful gleam in Kilduff’s eye faded and he fiddled with the pouch that held his cigarettes.  “That’s a problem then.  If we had an address or even a block I could get a warrant but…”

Helena took a deep breath.  “We don’t.  I guess we’ll have to use this as a stepping stone for the rest of the investigation.  Wonderful.”

“Best we can do,” Kilduff agreed.

Helena gave the fairy mob a wave that some managed to return, then headed down the far passage.  “Might as well start now.  The faster we can get the info the more likely it will still be legitimate.  Moving a lab is hard, but if he doesn’t keep a full lab he’ll be able to shift the jiang-shi if he catches wind of us.”

Kilduff followed along.  As the small fairy enclave disappeared behind them he asked, “So, how is it a witch like you is so close to the fair folk?  And why were those all so cheery?”

“I’m a friend to the fair folk because I swore a geas, a magical oath, never to knowingly bring death to a fairy,” Helena replied.  “I can’t discuss the oath any further.  And those girls are different because they’re lesser fey.”

“Is that what they call pixies in your lands?” Kilduff asked.

Helena shook her head.  “They aren’t really pixies.”  She considered the words carefully.  It was hard, because explaining everything would break the geas.  “Fairies can be broken into two groups, greater or noble fey and lesser fey.  You’ve got an Irish family so I’m sure you’ve heard enough about the noble fey.  They can be cunning, powerful, fearsome, or idiots depending on each one.

“Lesser fey on the other hand are universally childish and generally weak.  Some like Shadow Gleam can mature to teenage years mentally.  A few grow up into greater fey, but most just linger around the natural forces that create them and cause pranks.”

“I see,” Kilduff said.  “And what aren’t you telling me?”

Helena considered it then shook her head.  “I can’t.  Explaining it might violate my oath.”  And even if it didn’t violate her geas, she wouldn’t risk her fairy friends just to satisfy human curiosity.

Helena could tell the man was nearly bursting at the seams to press for more information, but instead the tall man simply pulled out another cigarette and lit it.  He smoked silently, face scrunched in thought, as they continued walking along.

The roses were starting their second bloom, which was something resembling a good omen for this chat.  At least they’d be granted some secrecy.  However, Aoi being so insistent was a bad sign.  Helena looked forward to self reflection about as much as she looked forward to drinking hemlock.

Aoi walked through the garden to a bench away from the more traveled routes.  Helena flopped down on it, while Aoi carefully arranged her dress before sitting.  Helena sighed, “I suppose you have to act like my mother before we can talk about important matters, so go ahead.”

“Helena….”  Aoi looked down at her.  “I’m not trying to be your mother.  For one thing you are older than me.  I’m trying to be your friend.”  Aoi held up a finger as Helena started to protest.  “Helena, your other friends are worried as well.  Lyudmila and Kseniya both asked me to look after you.  And they’ve known you since you were a kid.”

“Lyudmila turned into a worrywart when I moved here,” Helena said as she rolled her eyes.  “And Kseniya thinks I should have more friends.  They’ve been like that ever since we were kids at Walpurgisnacht.  I love them both, but they’re country girls.  They just don’t understand how things work in the city.  It’s nothing unusual.”

Aoi shook her head.  “Is that so?”

The silence that followed grated on Helena.  Aoi was trying to get her to open up. To change.  And Helena loathed that.  She hated picking at the old scars in her past.  Most of all she hated problems she couldn’t solve.

Worst of all she knew if she pushed Aoi would walk away.  But that would be admitting defeat.

Aoi heaved a sigh.  “Well, perhaps we could look over your work first.  You said you needed my help?”

Helena blinked at the other woman in confusion.  After all that Aoi was just letting her off the hook?  The priestess had to be plotting something.  It was like a sack of coins sitting in the middle of an abandoned street.  But she couldn’t escape the trap.  The reward was too good.

She took a deep breath and tried to remember everything she wanted to cover.  “Well first, apparently Gold Rat Hsu is the Triad’s lead magician.”

“I had heard we worked with the Triads, but I thought he just had no scruples about his clients.”  Aoi frowned at that.  “That worries me.  He has a title like you Helena, and he’s much older.  How’d you find out about that?”

Helena shook her head.  “Actually let me go back to the start of this mess.”

She explained the situation in full, starting with the crime scene and continuing on to her findings in the morgue.  Aoi nodded along as she went over various points, but didn’t interrupt.  When Helena got to the meeting with Ling Wei Hsu, Aoi started smoothing out her ponytail.  That usually meant the woman was thinking about something, but Aoi let Helena continue. 

When Helena finished Aoi shook her head.  “Exactly what I was worried about.”

“I thought we were going to solve my work problems first,” Helena said.  “I could use some help there, you know.”

“You could use a lot of help.”  Aoi flipped her hair back behind her back.  “Helena, why are you rushing off to another death duel?”

Helena narrowed her eyes.  “Because that’s the job.  Find the murderer and stop them.  And I like solving problems permanently.”

Aoi folded her arms.  “No Helena.  That isn’t the job you took.  You were hired to find who the murderer was.  You’ve done that Helena.  You can use Ling Wei Hsu’s information as proof, get your money and walk away.  You don’t have to fight anyone.”

Helena felt uneasy at Aoi’s suggestion.  “I don’t have definitive proof yet.”

“Oh?”  Aoi stared at Helena.  “So tell me, are you going to walk away when you have proof?”

Helena hesitated.  The answer was obvious.  She had no reason to go after the jiang-shi or its master.  She wasn’t part of the police.  She wasn’t even a citizen, legally.  There was no reason to risk her life to beat Long Zhou Di.  She didn’t even know the man.

“No.”  Her heart smoldered in anticipation of the battle as she admitted the truth.  “I won’t.  I’m going to find him, and I’m going to beat him.”

Aoi rubbed her forehead.  “That’s what I thought.”

The sound of people passing by the other side of the roses filled the air between them.  Helena let the murmur of the city wrap around her like a blanket.  But she couldn’t find comfort in anonymity now.  It was a painful relief when Aoi spoke again.  “Can you tell me why, Helena?”

Helena stared at her hands.  “I can’t.”  Words tumbled around her mind, trying to form thoughts, but nothing sounded like what she wanted to say.  It was pride, but it wasn’t all pride.  It was her need to finish the job, but that wasn’t all.  And it was something strange.  Something she just didn’t fully understand.  But the need to fight pulsed through her the more she considered walking away.

Aoi leaned back against the bench.  “Helena.  Do you remember the first time we met?”

The question knocked Helena out of her reverie.  Why ask that?  She dug into her memories, trying to recall which meeting was first.  “That was… the moon festival at the shrine outside the village, back in the Realm of Illusion.  It was the first year they let you work at a shrine where youkai could visit.”  A smile came to Helena’s face at the memory.  “You asked us all about our home realms, and every other place we’d visited.  Your parents should have taken that as a warning.  You running here was a huge scandal.  Loads of fun.”

Aoi smiled and shook her head.  “Yes.  They probably should have kept an eye on me.  But no Helena.  That wasn’t the first time we met.  Do you remember when that badger youkai slipped into the village school and mauled one of the students?”

Helena blinked in surprise.  “Yes.”  That had been a terrible incident.  One that had pretty much ruined the first week of summer training.

“I was in the crowd when you dropped the culprit’s body in the town square,” Aoi said.  “I doubt you remember, but it was quite the first impression for me.  You’d only arrived the day before the incident, but while the usual hunters were gathering information, you chased the culprit into the woods, then fought him yourself.  A magician who wasn’t even from our realm, much less our village.  Someone who asked for nothing in return.”

Aoi rested her hand on Helena’s shoulder.  “Helena, the truth is you believe in justice.  You want reality to be fair.  For good people to be rewarded, and evil to be punished.  That’s why you hunted down that killer then, and why you’re seeking justice now.  Yes your pride has something to do with it as well I’m sure, but that’s the heart of the matter.”

Helena ‘s jaw dropped.  Then she started laughing.  Justice?  It was too absurd.  Aoi’s placid face scrunched into confusion and Helena doubled over with mirth.  She desperately tried to keep from bursting into full hysterics.  She started hiccupping in between laughs from the exertion, but even the pain couldn’t stop her.

Finally the last giggle escaped and she managed to take in enough air to speak.  “Aoi.  I didn’t kill that badger.”

“What?!”  Aoi’s mouth fell open.  “But-!”

Helena wiped her eyes to clear them.  “Think about it Aoi.  How could a child escape a full grown youkai?  Especially an animal youkai with decades of hunting experience?  The only reason the child survived the attack at school was because there was a fox youkai hiding on the grounds.  The kitsune killed the badger youkai then fled with the corpse before anyone else showed up.”

“There’s a kitsune hiding in the school?!”  Aoi’s eyes practically bulged out of their sockets.  “How?  I mean, foxes are more reasonable than the other youkai races, but any youkai is a danger to the children and-“

“The fox was a child too.  She’d just gotten her second tail, and she was trying to learn writing and arithmetic.” Helena shrugged at Aoi’s dumbfounded expression.  “But of course if anyone found out she’d be killed on the spot.  You’re friends with youkai and you still panicked.  What would happen if some of the more conservative hunters learned the truth?  Especially after an attack on a student?”

Helena looked back out over the rose gardens.  “The kitsune was smart enough to realize that.  Or maybe her wounds were just bad enough that she retreated to her lair instinctively.  It was a close fight.  But she was gone, the culprit was dead, and the student she’d saved didn’t remember what happened.  If a hunter were to claim the kill, no one in the village would be the wiser.”

“The foxes and I have history, so they called in a favor,” Helena said while tapping her bell.  “I had a reputation for killing annoying animal youkai after all.  Drop a body in the town square, get a bit of praise, a few complaints from my tutors about stealing all the fun.  And the fox girl wouldn’t lose everything for saving her friend’s life.”

The city again surrounded them with background noise as Aoi stared at her feet.  Then the shrine maiden began to laugh.  The woman’s giggles were contagious, and this time Helena didn’t try to hold back.  They laughed together until their sides began to sting.

“Amazing,” Aoi said as she wiped her eyes.  “I was right about you for all the wrong reasons.”

Helena sniffed as she rubbed her own tears away.  “Can you really call that justice?  I broke all the village’s rules.”

Aoi’s smile softened.  “And now we’re back to our problem.”  She took a moment to steady herself.  “You believe in justice, but you don’t have a clue what that means.  You just follow your emotions and get in fights.”

“Is that so?”  Helena slowly shook her head.  “Aoi, do you know why you’re giving me this speech and not Lyudmila?”

“Because I live in the same realm as you?” Aoi replied.

Helena plucked a rose from a nearby bush.  “Because Lyudmila knows it’s not justice.  It’s revenge.”  She twirled the flower, the soft caress of the petals swapping with the prick of the thorns.  “I hate some people, Aoi.  Really really hate some people.  That’s the heart of creating curses, and curses are my best magic.  Yes I saved a girl from being chased out of your village.  But this morning I cursed a man to live the rest of his life poorer than his slaves for annoying me.”

“Did that make you happy?” Aoi asked.

“It was the most satisfying thing I did this week,” Helena said.  “And I feel that it shouldn’t be.”

She felt Aoi’s hand fall on her shoulder.  “If you didn’t like it, why don’t you change?”

Helena tossed the rose aside.  “Because the part I don’t like is the same as the part I do like.  And because that’s the one part of me I can’t change anymore.”

Aoi squeezed her shoulder.  “Is it… related to how you stopped your aging?  How you became immortal?”

She froze.  “How do you know that, Aoi?”  Magicians hid the secret of immortality as much as they could.  Letting people know how you transcended a normal lifespan was dangerous.

“Helena.”  Aoi folded her arms.  “Do you really think a priestess like me wouldn’t notice when a god acts in my own shrine?”

The tension bled away.  “Of course not.  That was foolish of me.”  She sighed.  “I guess I’m still getting used to what my transformation means.  Even after nearly thirty years.  Everyone makes a big deal about ‘not being human anymore,’ but not much changes.  It’s subtle, and I’m not used to subtle tales.”

“I feel you are still getting used to a lot of things.  But I’ve bothered you enough for one day,” Aoi said as she stood again.  “At least consider what I’ve said.”

“Right.”  Helena stood as well and brushed off her clothes.  “I’m not sure whether I should thank you.”

“It’s fine,” Aoi said.  “After all, the longer it takes for you to realize everything I said is right, the more I get to tease you about it later.”

“You should consider immortality if you’re going to make long term investments like that,” Helena responded.  After a moment she frowned.  “Wait, that’s right.  I wanted to ask you if you knew anything about the jiang-shi.”

Aoi blinked in surprise.  “No.  Haven’t heard anything about one from anyone other than you.  They’re rare after all.  And my shrine mostly gets people from the Realms of Illusion or Westerners like you.  Not visitors from the Middle Kingdoms.”

Helena nodded.  “It was worth asking.”  She smiled at Aoi.  “So now that you’ve dredged through my hangups, why don’t you buy me lunch?”

“Hey.”  Aoi pointed at her.  “This chat was because you owed me.  Besides didn’t you just get a huge job?”

“They haven’t paid me yet,” Helena replied.  “Besides if I’m paying that means you have to go back to your shrine and wait for me to bring the food.”

Aoi shrugged in defeat.  “Fine.  You win this one.  But after this job of yours is over you’ll have to buy me dinner.”

“It’s a deal,” Helena said as they walked off together.