Chapter #6: The Inquisitor Corps
Phoenix, Arizona
October 17th, 2044-CE
Mara finished their shot as they thought about Tyler’s last statement. They sighed as they fought the radiating soothing feeling going down their esophagus, “What is it, Tyler?” They questioned flatly, “Did I do something wrong?”
“It’s not like that,” Tyler mentioned as they glanced towards the door and the office beyond, “You have made a serious dent. I can tell you the best job he has right now is a fresh class A. Probably four vampires and one of them has a higher rank. A lot of the old B jobs in this area are being assigned to Class A to keep the good hunters here.” Tyler sat back and passed the shot in his glass to Kyra, “Here, you seem like you need it.”
“Make me not legal to drive, eh?” Kyra accepted the glass of amber liquid, “That will affect whether I will have Luna hunt with me tonight.”
“It won’t,” Tyler shook his head as Kyra spun the empty glass with their other free hand, “I know she has a driver’s license.” He mentioned.
“But she aint on my insurance,” Kyra mentioned.
“Oh, suddenly going down Malicious Compliance road because it works in your favor suddenly?” Tyler chuckled, “I know it wouldn’t bother you normally. Have the shot.”
Kyra took the full glass up to their lips and sipped on the smoky flavored alcohol. They sat the glass down, “What are you trying to say?” They asked a moment later.
“It would be a good idea to try hunting something other than Vampires and Lilithians,” Tyler mentioned. The comment earned a sidelong glare from Kyra. He shrugged and continued, “If you want something better than your class S license, you can try being an inquisitor, but you will need to get some experience with other things first. Arcane mages are always a nice segue into it.”
“Is that how you became an inquisitor?” Kyra stated with a growl, “By hunting humans?”
“Arcane mages and Dark Shamans that break the rules,” Tyler shrugged, “To me they are the same as most Vampires and Lilithians. There aren’t a lot of natural born Lilithians and natural born vampires, we keep track of the ones we know about which is most of them. So, if you think about it, you are killing infected humans and not true Vampires and Lilithians. How’s that humble pie now?”
“Tastes like crow,” Kyra mentioned as they took another drink of the amber liquid, “I will think about it. But it has to be the right job, something that their own people will send in. If that happens at all.”
“It happens with some orders of Arcane Mages,” Tyler mentioned, “I don’t blame you for not wanting to end someone’s life just because they wiggle a few fingers.”
“It’s also a case of who would know who the bad guy is in the community other than the community leaders,” Kyra shrugged, “Alright, if you find the right job I will take it.” They gave him a glare, “You got anything else or are you planning on coming along on my impromptu date hunt?”
“I can’t imagine a date with a hunter going along better, romance and guts, got to be a unique taste,” Tyler chuckled, “Nah, you two go on without me.”
“If that was all you had,” Kyra mentioned as Luna sat there sucking on the straw and slowly emptying the glass of soda Mara abandoned, “You’d be on your way. You got to want something else.”
“I got a lead,” Tyler mentioned with a nod and pulled up something, “I am sending you the deets.”
“A lead?” Kyra cocked their head in curiosity, “Did you find that Azrael?”
Luna leaned in, “What did you find?”
“I did find Fallon. He is in Boston at the moment,” Tyler nodded, “Kind of weird since Boston is a mage strong hold and Mages were the reason why I was there. Seeing that black aura on a person was surprising especially since a lot of the supernaturals in town has that sparkly mage aura.”
“You will have to teach me that sight sometime,” Kyra mentioned, “That sounds like it will be important to know.”
“That is another one of the requirements,” Tyler nodded, “But you have that sense, I watched you stalk enough to know that you can sense it. Eventually, if you go about life long enough you will start to notice it.”
“Got any tips?” Kyra questioned.
“Let’s see how you fare against the mage,” Tyler nodded and pat Kyra on the shoulder, “Once I find one.”
Kyra nodded and finished their shot of whiskey, “So, how long are you back in town for?”
“A couple of days, they sent me back here because I can deal with both you and Dix,” Tyler mentioned, “Might have something to do with some commonalities between us that make me more conducive to understanding you.”
“At least you aren’t being pulled back to a post and someone trying to pants you to see your equipment,” Kyra glowered. They leaned forward and looked around, “Now where is that old guy with the book?”
“I’m sorry about that,” Tyler nodded, “You stand out.”
“If I wasn’t endowed with huge breasts then it would be less of a problem,” Kyra lamented.
“Oh, I forgot to ask, how do you feel about all this, Luna?” Tyler questioned.
“About what?” She blinked in confusion.
“About dating an intersex,” Tyler questioned in response, “I just want to know how that came up.”
“I’m intersex too so it’s a non-issue,” Luna mentioned.
Tyler blinked, “Kinky,” He commented and received a slap to the chest for his trouble. He playfully held his hands up feigning surrender, “Fair. One question though.”
“Don’t fall for it,” Kyra said flatly.
“What’s the question?” Luna asked getting an eye roll from Kyra.
“Who’s on top?” Tyler stated with a smirk.
“Told you not to fall for it,” Kyra glowered, rolling their eyes.
Luna chuckled, “If I ignored the ‘one question though,’ then where would we be? Not enjoying a laugh.” She mentioned followed by giving Kyra a curious glance with her fluorite green eyes before answering, “Most of the time it’s Kyra.”
Kyra blushed which elicited a giggle from Luna, “Nice,” Tyler mentioned.
“Ask her about the crystal between her boobs,” Kyra mentioned flatly as they glanced at the green haired elf eared woman.
“Hey!” Luna blushed, “That’s just between us.”
“You’re right, it is between us every time we—”
“Hey!” Luna growled again, the growl covering a giggle, “I told you to treat it like a birthmark!”
“Oh, I do!” Kyra smirked and rose to their feet, “But you two can discuss it while I get the job for the night then we will head out.”
Luna nodded and took another sip of what was left of her soda, “Do you really have a crystal between them?” Tyler asked after a moment.
Luna sighed and pulled down her shirt enough to show her cleavage. Between the two mounds of flesh was a blue crystal which transitioned from one end to a magenta color on the other end. She pulled her shirt back up and gave him a side long look as she sucked up the rest of her soda through a straw, “Satisfied?”
“Well…” Tyler mumbled for a moment, “Why is it embedded halfway in your chest?”
“Because it’s a part of me just like the other form,” Luna mentioned, “I know you have been tailing us long enough to know what I really am.”
“Yeah, we don’t really see a problem with it, some of the people in Asian countries might have a different thing to say about it, but here in America, as long as you look normal you are fine.” He mentioned, “Speaking of normal, why not do something about your ears?”
“They are my best feature,” Luna mentioned as she touched the tips of her ears, “They remind me where I came from and since that was so long ago, I like having them around.”
“But they make you stand out,” Tyler mentioned.
“Right, but I don’t care about standing out like that. I’m not going to change my ears,” Luna answered flatly.
Kyra came out of the back office with a small piece of paper, “Right, because if the enemy trips and falls on your head, you can stab them with your pointed ears,” Kyra commented as they rejoined the conversation, “If we are to make it to the south end of town by night fall, we got to go get your weapons now.”
Luna nodded and rose, sitting the empty glass on the counter, “We should hang out in a less hunter like way later sometime.” Luna said and patted Tyler on the shoulder, “See you the next time we see you.”
Tyler nodded and packed up his phone and sat the empty shot glass on the counter, covering the tip that Kyra had dropped as they led the way out, “You two have fun on your date!” He mentioned as the two walked out to the front door. He rose to leave, following them out silently, however something was still on his mind, something he needed to talk to Mara and Iliana about.
Chapter #7: Questioning
Prescot, Arizona
October 7th, 2044-CE
Mara held up a carryon bag, “Okay I have everything I want I this bag. That should sustain us while we visit my Mom for a few days.”
“We normally go out to see your mom and stay with her for a couple of days, never to mention the weekly dinner you have done with her nearly every week since we moved here several years ago. Why are we getting a hotel this time?” Iliana questioned as she dragged her bag out of her room.
“Because we can have more fun in a hotel, it will be just the two of us. It has been a long time since it was just the two of us,” Mara mentioned and wrapped her arms around Iliana’s shoulders.
Iliana giggled and embraced Mara in a hug, “If you really wanted to go on a vacation, just say it. We have more than enough money for us to go around the world and see the sights.”
“Right,” Mara nodded, “But we have to remain here to help Kyra out with what she needs.”
“We don’t have to remain on standby all the time. Kyra hasn’t taken us out in weeks on a hunt, whatever is left I am sure they are going to be fine. If not, they have our numbers, surely, they can get a hold of one of us,” Iliana mentioned, “I am sure your mom will understand if you call her and reschedule.”
Mara gave Iliana a kiss on the nose and added, “She’s 84, my stepmother is also in her seventies. There isn’t a lot of time left for them.”
Iliana’s mismatched cerulean and brown eyes glanced up, “We are really sixty now?”
Mara chuckled, “You don’t look a day over thirty.”
Iliana kissed Mara’s lips, “Still, you will have next week with your moms. I know you wanted to go to the Stonewall for a hot minute, how about we take a couple of days to bum around New York?”
A knock at the door interrupted their conversation. Mara gave Iliana a confused glance, “Kyra and Luna?” She asked Iliana.
Iliana shook her head as Mara crossed to the door, “No, they stopped by already for their stuff. I know Luna would just walk in the door, Kyra would too.”
Mara nodded and opened the door revealing Tyler, his dirty blonde hair brushed out of his green eyes. Now that both eyes were clear of the sandy blonde-brown combination hair, Mara could see one of the green eyes was covered with a green contact making it half a shade off his natural green eye, “Hey Tyler?” Mara cocked her head in confusion, “What’s up?”
“I need to talk with you two about something,” Tyler mentioned and glanced at the doorway and Mara taking up most of it, “Can I come in?”
Mara nodded and stood aside, “Sure,” She said. He stepped through and Mara closed the door behind him, “Do you want something to drink? We have juice, milk, soda, and a faucet full of water.” Mara offered.
“Soda would be nice,” He said as he sat down at the kitchen counter, leaning back against the barstool which had a back on it.
Mara filled three glasses with soda and took them back to the kitchen counter where Iliana sat on one side of him and Mara stood across from him. He took a drink more to leave them in suspension for a moment than to refresh his throat followed by pulling out his phone and pulling up a video of the inside of the bar, “I don’t know if you told Iliana what happened earlier today?” He said hesitantly.
“That some ass clowns were going to assault our roommate?” Iliana answered for Mara, “She told me about it.”
“Cool, that will make this easy to get through,” Tyler mentioned as he used a slider to isolate a specific portion of the surveillance video. He played it on slow speed for a moment until he got to the point he wanted to pause at, “This is when you charged in and destroyed the man’s pistol.” He said as he laid it flat on the table and zoomed in on Mara’s feet. Just barely visible on the ground was the shining white circumference of Mara’s Shaman seal; the spiritually bound spell circle that enhanced her powers as a shaman, “You can barely see it and a normal person would just call it an artifact, but I know from how fast you were moving you were using a time step spell.”
“You going to turn me in because I used a spell to help my friend?” Mara frowned, “Even though I don’t use my shamanism against anyone?”
“I’m not going to do shit with this,” Tyler shook his head. Mara took a long slow drink as he added, “But if I can see it on camera, someone else could have seen it. It was only visible until you slashed through the man’s gun and held the back of the blade to his neck and the camera could hardly capture more than the outline. But I have seen you two fight before and when you aren’t worried about other humans you use these spell circles to boost your power.” He leaned in close, “I don’t mind you two being shamans. That is the class of hunted that typically doesn’t give us a lot of problems except for a few isolated incidents. In fact, you won’t see any jobs in most regions for shamans unless they are what other shamans call—”
“Dark Shamans,” Iliana nodded, “I have heard of a few of them making waves recently. But I think most of them keep to themselves and out of this general region of space.”
“What are you saying, Tyler?” Mara questioned as she sat down her glass.
“I’m saying you need to be careful especially since Kyra and the three of you have taken on and taken out most of the high value vampire and Lilithian targets in the area. People are starting to look for excuses to depose you four and no offense, but between Kyra and Luna, they have plenty of reasons to suspect something is up.”
“The Meridian Blades, Kyra’s reactive time step, Luna’s ears and hair,” Iliana nodded as she counted off everything, “Would make people suspicious.”
“While a lot of people don’t know Meridian metal exists and that is has unique properties, most of us Inquisitors have seen them or handled them,” He mentioned then unclipped a sheath from his belt and sat it on the table, “This for example is an old Meridian blade. If most inquisitors have seen them before, they would be expecting something like this,” He said as he pulled the knife out of the sheath. It was a six-inch blade with two sharp sides. It had mostly black grains and Mara would have mistaken the blade for a typical Damascus Steel knife except when he held it up in the air, the grains started to glow a faint dark cobalt color, “I don’t know what happened with this knife to make it look more like a traditional Damascus Steel knife—”
“Depending on the age, that is a Damascus Steel knife,” Iliana mentioned, “True Damascus is Meridian Metal.” She pressed a finger against the soft but durable fabric of the sheath, “But most of the magnetic meridians in the blade have drifted. It happens with all Meridian Metal, that’s why it’s typically held in a quartz enclosure of some kind, it allows the magnetic meridians of the blade to stabilize.”
“I know this blade is at least a couple hundred years old,” He mentioned as he put the knife back in the sheath, “But by the time I was given this, it had no hard sheath.”
“May I see the blade?” Mara questioned. Tyler nodded and slid the knife over to Mara. She grasped the handle, “Usually they match the scabbard to the handle in the case of fixed blades. It helps cohesion with the metal as the quartz material selected will help the meridians drift according to the design of the blade.” She pulled out the blade and watched as the grains lit up white before subtle wisps of fire started to erupt from the glowing white grains of the knife, “It still can get an element but now it is going to require a shaman experienced with a blade. I don’t think it can even do more than a stage two power anymore.” She glanced at Tyler, “You want me to try to harness its stage two power?”
“Will that be dangerous?” Tyler asked as he shrugged and took a drink of his soda.
“There is a possibility it will throw the meridians completely out of phase so it won’t ever work again,” Iliana answered, “I bet you could take it to the blade smith Kyra got her blade from and have it re honed.” She added then sat back, “No matter what, eventually all Meridian blades need to be re honed at a forge.”
“What about allowing Mara to do the test to see what stage of power it can handle?” Tyler questioned in response, “If she harnesses this second stage power will I still be able to re forge it later?”
“It’s more of a re honing,” Mara answered as she studied the weak flames leaping from the glowing white grains in the blade, “Heating it up and placing it in an intense magnetic field as well as a few other things. The blades don’t get harmed by using the tune, which is when the grains light up, and the stage one power which is an element or spell of some kind. Stage two and higher do some damage to the blade through use, though.” She mentioned.
“Which part does the stage 2 power use? The steel or the grains?” Iliana questioned in response.
“It degrades the steel, not the carbon grains,” Mara mentioned and pulled back on her Nwyfre controlling the blade which caused the blade to revert to a bright cerulean glow, “The steel looks to be in good shape. It could activate a stage two power.”
Iliana shrugged and glanced back to Tyler, “You okay if she tries it?”
“Doesn’t sound like it will hurt the grains, sure,” He nodded.
The grains stopped glowing after a moment. Mara pricked the tip of her index finger with the top of the blade and wiped a streak of crimson along the edge of the blade. As she pulled back from the swipe, the grains lit up white before the blade transitioned into a long double edge sword with fire surrounding it, “Looks like it can accept a stage two activation.” She mentioned as she held the now sword in front of her.
“Any ranged attacks with it?” Tyler questioned in response.
“Not all blades have a ranged attack power. That depends on the state of the blade and the knowledge and presence of the person using it,” Mara mentioned and glanced to the tip of the blade, “I don’t think it can because I can’t coalesce Nwyfre to the tip of the blade. It would with a stage three power.” She mentioned as the blade shrank back down to its original form with the grains lighting up red for a moment before going back to a cool blue light.
“How do you activate the stage three power?” Tyler questioned as Mara sheathed the knife.
“I wouldn’t depend on the blade for a third stage power. It would grant a ranged attack with an element if it could support it or enhance the ranged power. But it does damage the grains of the blade so I don’t know if it could shift to stage three anymore.”
“No change of a stage four power?” Iliana questioned.
“I don’t think so, the meridians have degraded too much,” Mara mentioned, “I wouldn’t want to stab it through my hand to find out it will just remain as a blade.”
“What’s the stage four power?” He questioned, interested in the blade now.
“It creates a meridian armor that surrounds the user, and you can project the blade to any hand,” Mara mentioned, “We have seen it in action once and it did damage Kyra’s blade in the process so it’s not something I recommend.” She handed the blade back to Tyler, “I think the best you can get out of it is stage two.”
“How do I activate stage three?” Tyler questioned as he pulled the knife out.
“You know how I activated it’s stage two power?” Mara questioned and he nodded, “Instead of one side of the blade it’s both.”
He got off the stool and walked to the door. He clipped the blade to his back then pulled it out of the sheath. He pricked his finger with the tip of the blade then ran a streak of blood over both sides of the blade. A moment later, with focused effort, the blade elongated to the length of a sword with fire surrounding the blade, “It looks like it worked,” Tyler mentioned as he held the fiery sword up, “At least I think it did.”
Mara crossed to the door and opened it, “Choose the top of that hill and swing at it with the sword. If it worked, it should throw a burst of fire towards the hill.”
Tyler stepped out onto the front porch and swung over head with the sword. Nothing happened and the blade returned to its normal size. Crestfallen, Tyler sheathed the blade and said, “Looks like it didn’t work after all.” They walked back inside, “Anything I can do to repair the blade?”
“Do you have access to a forge with an intense and controllable magnetic field?” Iliana questioned in response.
Tyler shook his head, “No, but how intense of a magnetic field are we talking about?” He questioned a moment later.
“The person we got our blades from had to use a ten-foot pole on a hammer to help hammer everything and it could suspend the blade in midair,” Mara answered a moment later, “I don’t know of a lot of forges like that.”
He whistled, “I don’t know of a lot of places that have a magnetic field strong enough to suspend a blade like that! That doesn’t sound like it’s possible with our technology we have now.” Tyler closed the door and sat back down, “No wonder why old Damascus steel blades still retain an edge and sharpness no matter what someone does to them.”
“Yeah, most of them were made with that technology and the techniques perfected over thousands of years,” Mara nodded, “They say the technology to make them is lost, but there are people who have been making them for thousands of years.”
“I can’t believe we had the technology to make these blades for thousands of years. We only had electricity in our society for a couple hundred years,” Tyler shook his head and took a drink of his soda.
“I know that you want to think we only discovered it a few hundred years ago, but there are laden jars going back thousands of years, so the ancients knew about electricity even back then. A lot of electroplated items have been discovered from that time too which means if they knew about atoms of metals suspended in Agua regia and that electricity can attract charge between an anode and cathode, then they absolutely knew how to craft even if as time wore on most of the direct technology related to magnetic forging and meridian alignments have been lost.” Iliana explained.
“How could we have lost the technology?” Tyler questioned.
“Do you know how they built the pyramids, or what the pyramids were used for?” Mara asked and took a sip of her own soda. She crossed the distance and sat down on the sofa, “Don’t be afraid to go with your gut.”
“Well, they say the Egyptian pyramids were built as tombs for their pharaohs,” Tyler shrugged.
Iliana chuckled, “Yes, let’s move mountains worth of stone so a king can be buried, and let’s not forget about the fact we just made a mountain and in a place where the structure is super obvious.” She shook her head, “That doesn’t even answer how it was made in the first place.”
“What makes you think that they weren’t for kings?” Tyler cocked his head and took another long slow drink of his soda.
“Most pyramids don’t have carvings on the inside or if they do the tool marks show a different and more primitive technology used to craft the inscriptions. Also, every continent has several pyramid locations,” Iliana commented and pulled out her phone, “Every continent including north America. Why would all the continents have pyramids if they were just for kings?”
“What are you suggesting?” Tyler questioned in response.
“We know there have been cataclysms that almost wiped-out humanity over thousands of years. The last one was the Younger Dryas cataclysm that happened around 10,500 BC. All the cities that have been excavated from that time show signs of advanced technology. If something wiped out all except around three hundred or so humans, the technology to make something would be lost. We are seeing ghosts of an age long passed. What would remain if a mile high tidal wave washed over the land?” Ilinaa explained.
“Only the structures that could survive such an onslaught,” Tyler mentioned, “Which would count the pyramids.”
“Also, pyramids are in every type of climate, from desert, to mountains, and in the middle of forests,” Mara added, “They are all similar in construction and all of them baffle anthropologists because we still have a hard time constructing pyramids even if we might have discovered the secrets to their construction.”
“The Geopolymer in the pyramids is a good indication of lost Technology,” Iliana added, “We don’t know how they made it and how it has held together so well over the centuries. It’s strong and has tensile strength which makes concrete look strikingly primitive.”
“I thought the stones of the pyramid were all press fit together?” Tyler questioned in response, “I didn’t know they were made with a type of concrete.”
“The casing stones on the pyramids are all press fit in, but the internal structure is definitely glued with a form of concrete we have lost the recipe for,” Iliana answered, “With that in mind, do you know how they were made?”
Tyler shrugged, “I guess I really don’t.”
“Standard reasoning falls apart when you consider that around the time the mainstream says the pyramids were built, they constructed with copper tools. Copper that they used to cut granite with,” Mara said, “Even diamond tipped computer-controlled cutters have a problem getting the precision we see in some ancient constructions.”
“Interesting, why don’t they tell us any of this?” Tyler questioned in response.
Mara shrugged, “How would you feel if our society was totally a legacy society, that most of the things, if not all, were things we had recently.” She commented, “Knowing that there are gaps in our technology compared to what the ancients had, it might unsettle folks and create a run on relics and ancient sights, tearing them apart to find out what technology created them and reverse engineer everything. I look at it as societal control. If we tell the world we have surpassed the technology the ancients had, it makes us feel good about ourselves and causes us to treat them like tourist and heritage sights that need some form of preservation.”
“But it’s all just speculation,” Tyler mentioned, “We don’t really know what the ancients used to construct those sites.”
“More of those sites have been destroyed as opposed to protected,” Iliana commented, “The Giza Pyramids are the only remaining examples of the seven wonders of the ancient world. The rest of all that remains is fragments and foundations. This isn’t the first time humans have decided that we are more advanced than ancient technology, only now we are a global civilization and have a vested interest in studying what we have left. Most of what the ancients know that we don’t have been lost to the sands of time.”
“What do you think the pyramids were?” Tyler questioned in response.
“If we look at the center pyramid in the complex there is a subterranean chamber that has an unusual design,” Iliana commented, “It looks like the room used to be a pump.”
“What kind of pump and what powered it?” Tyler questioned in response.
“The pump itself does, it looks like a version of a ram pump,” Iliana explained, “There is a hole, possibly an old well, in the subterranean chamber and a hall that goes somewhere no one has discussed where yet. It looks like what would happen is the chamber would fill up to the opening from the hallway, create a pressure wave which would generate an electrical field in the pyramid due to the compression of the quartz in the granite, and it would reverse direction until the mysterious hallway belches then the chamber would fill with water again, repeating the process. Depending on how much water they were pumping, and if it was a closed loop just for the purpose of the pump, they could achieve something like ten times per minute for a ten hertz electrical signal.”
“What would happen if someone tried to restart this pump?” Tyler questioned in response.
“Depending on how strong the pressure wave is when the pump room fills, it could shake the pyramid apart,” Mara mentioned in response, “The pyramid is not in any condition to have the pump running at full power.”
“Wait, it sounds like the pyramids would be used for power?” Tyler sat down on the stool he occupied a moment before, “Is that why there weren’t bodies of the same age found in the pyramids?”
“Most of the time there weren’t bodies or hieroglyphs in any of the pyramids,” Mara mentioned, “But yes, the pyramids were power generators. Some were more than that, you can do a lot of exciting things inside of an electromagnetic field we haven’t thought of yet.”
“At least one of the pyramids looked like a central resonator with several chambers aren’t for power,” Iliana added, “The great pyramid being one of those. It has several chambers well above the subterranean chamber. We also can’t explain why the ancients decided to build their pyramids on top of or near a source of water.”
Tyler sat back, “All that lost but people still know how to make these blades?” Tyler cocked his head in confusion, “Where do I have to go to get this re-honed?”
“One place we know of is Pakistan,” Mara answered, “That is where we got our blades.”
“Do you know how many languages are in Pakistan?” Tyler hissed in response.
“I did just well there,” Iliana mentioned with a wide grin on her face, “It wasn’t so hard. Most people there already know several languages.”
“So, it’s likely I will find an English speaker there?” He asked in response.
“Don’t pay attention to Iliana, she teases. She is a polyglot,” Mara commented with a smirk, “You are unlikely to find an English speaker in the part of northern Pakistan you have to go to.” She mentioned.
“What is a polyglot?” Tyler asked, face twisted with confusion.
“I speak a lot of languages,” Iliana mentioned, “Just a talent I have.”
“Makes her extra cool,” Mara patted her on the back, “She could have had a promising career as a US Ambassador if people discovered her natural talent sooner.”
“Kare no mae de ichatsuku no wa yame ma shou,” Iliana mentioned. Mara knew just enough to blush in response.
“What did she say?” Tyler cocked his head, “And in what language.”
“She was telling me it was rude to swoon her in front of you,” Mara smirked, “She only does that because she knows how much anime I tend to watch.”
Tyler chuckled, “Cool, she knows Japanese because you watch subs.”
“Başka şeyler biliyorum,” Iliana protested in a different language as she crossed her arms.”
“What was that?” Tyler shrugged.
“I have no idea, but it sounded Turkish to me,” Mara shrugged.
“Mara has the ear for it, but her brain works a little different than mine,” Iliana nodded, “I was protesting the fact I know other languages.”
“Okay, I got it,” Tyler nodded, “You would also make a good Inquisitor for the OSL, you could be shipped all over the world by them, possibly even make other cells in your order.”
Iliana shook her head, “I have done that live out of a duffel for months at a time. I don’t feel like doing that.”
“True, but if you change your mind, all you have to do is find me, normally they would prefer having your polyglot skill over experience with other types of supernaturals,” Tyler suggested, “The OSL is one of the smaller orders so they will take people of exceptional talent as inquisitors any time.”
“I will go on a quest for something that matters and can be solved, no continuing missions anymore,” Iliana shook her head in response, “I would like to know there would be an end to my work.”
“Fair,” Tyler nodded.
“Why not see if Kai could be made an inquisitor?” Mara questioned in response, “They also have some exceptional talents.”
“Exceptional, perfect for a class S license,” Tyler nodded, “They have some polishing they need to do.”
“You could help them with that,” Iliana suggested.
“I am,” Tyler nodded, “The first thing I got to do is find them a mage job they can cut their teeth on.” He rose to leave then turned back, “I don’t know how your spell circle works but you might not want to use it around other hunters. If they notice it, they will certainly turn you in to the CIC. I may not care what you know because you are protecting people. But other hunters are less picky and more prone to othering.” He said then walked through the door.
“Kai doesn’t care,” Mara said as she finished her soda then took her glass and Tylers to the kitchen to wash, “I don’t care that these will be dry in the dish tray when we get back either.”
“You thought about where you want to go?” Iliana asked as she rose to her feet and grabbed the two suitcases.
Mara nodded, “I really would like to go to Istanbul, but we need to have a chaperone to go.” She shook her head, “Manhattan sounds good.”
“Cool, I will get the flights set up if you drive,” Iliana mentioned and handed her glass to Mara, “I will pack up the car.”
Mara nodded, “Sounds good, my love.”
