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Chapter -2- The Silent Inquisition

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Midday, August 31, 2023 San Francisco, California ...

*"Even though I'm Welsh," * Karla said with a laugh, "I'll still be the first to admit that Joan of Arc was a badass. She took a blow to the helmet from a stone cannonball while climbing a ladder. I'm telling you - in fact I'll bet you cash - Joan of Arc was a supernatural; she just didn't know it about herself." Karla stretched then leaned back along the sofa.

Nathanial Carrington, an elderly man with a full head of short peppered hair, peered up over a newspaper at the succubus. He looked back down at the paper and shook his head.

Karla cut her green gaze over at Carrington. "Seriously, old man. Joan of Arc also had prophecies and could raise the morale of her troops on the battlefield, all at the age of nineteen."

"Mm..." Nathanial wore a gold band on a chain around his neck. On occasion, he reached up from the left side of the newspaper and gave a wanton tug on it.

Karla looked up at the ceiling. "There are accounts of her walking away from things that should have killed her, like that cannonball to the head. That's documented."

"Mm-hmm."

Karla glanced back at the old man with his newspaper and said, "Nathan, are you even listening?"

His eyes flitted over the newspaper in silence.

"What are words for, when no one listens anymore?"

Nathan scoffed. "Really? I thought you liked metal, kid. Sabaton, Nightwish, and all those goofy power metal bands."

Karla mirrored his scoff. "Don't judge me. Yeah, I like metal, but 80's pop was unavoidable for a time in my life. It just ... slipped out, okay? My brain is going into supernatural meltdown. Must be all these 'missing persons.'"

"Hah. Very punny."

"I thought you liked talking about war stuff."

"I do. I'm just preoccupied with searching the paper for more information about who is missing. I'm reading obituaries to see if I recognize any names. I want to see what it says about them."

"I just respect Joan of Arc because she was a young woman who changed history. I just wanted to see if you were even listening to me."

Nathan tilted the top of his newspaper down with his left and right index. "Yeah, Karla. Maybe that's why the English burned her as a heretic. They realized they couldn't hurt her while torturing her. You kind of went on a tangent. You're like a dog with a chew toy."

"Say what, old fart?"

His teeth and gums hurt to smile - it caused the corner of his lips to twitch. His weak grin tugged at the sides of his mouth in amusement.

"Explain, you goober."

"You're like, 'grr, grr,' gnawing on a topic like a dog with a chew toy. Then you put it down for a minute or two. A little while later, you pick right back up where you left off, 'grr, grr, grr,' just gnawing away on whatever point you're trying to make. Who're you trying to convince, here? Me or yourself?"

"I get excited sometimes, and I rant. Deal with it."

"How in the hell did you even get on the topic of Joan of Arc, anyhow?"

"Nathanial, you brought up supernaturals being targeted. I said it was classic history tactics - deputize all the boys you can find, then kick down every door on the same night. After that, I started talking about historical supernaturals."

Carrington sighed. He ran gnarled old fingers back through his short hair, fluffing the military-style crew cut.

"We can't all be dead. There are tens of thousands of us."

Nathan stared at Karla for a moment. He shook his head.

"What?"

Nathan lifted the top of the newspaper back up, hiding behind it. "Look, kiddo, I'm serious when I say supernaturals are being targeted. I haven't heard anything from the local leaders of the so-called 'Esoteric Sects.' What about that guy that you saved?"

"Donovan Loupe." Karla slid off of her sofa, stood up and stretched. She put her tablet down on her coffee table and reached for a hairbrush. "I've had enough of Tumblr for one day."

"What's Donovan's deal?"

Karla bunched up in her lengthy yellow hair in one hand and tugged her brush through it firmly. "He's cool, Nathan. I think we can trust him."

"I meant ... where is he, Karla?"

"Donovan is lying low." She cut her gaze back towards the old man. "Have you ever met him?"

Carrington turned a page in the newspaper. "No. But, uh, I've heard of him before." Nathanial's eyes lifted, peering at her over the newspaper.

She continued brushing her hair, facing away from him. "Newspapers suck. They're slanted towards the chief editor's point of view or political outlook. Get a tablet, look at everyone's view of the same stories, and form your own opinions."

Silence.

Karla grimaced. "What are you reading that's so damn interesting, old man?"

Nathan lowered his gaze back to the print. "According to three local papers, which I've combined, the local police are saying there were several buildings burned down but no one has mentioned finding any bodies."

"Seriously? I saw eight dead people in that room."

"Like I said, there's no mention of bodies at any of the torched buildings."

Karla released the first bunch of her hair. She reached back and grabbed another fistful of blond.

Nathan started reading again.

She brushed the second fistful with the same forcefulness as before. "Oh, and it wasn't even burned to the ground. Donovan cut oxygen to the blaze. He even took the time to washed his hands before we left."

Nathan read a single sentence from the paper out loud. "...Several buildings destroyed by structure fires, likely set on the same evening."

"I wonder how many, total."

He cleared his throat and looked back up at her, over the pages. "Authorities are blaming a 'small group of arsonists.' Small group my ass. I knew a lot of people that disappeared after this mess."

"What? Seriously?"

"Karla, I have contacts in Washington DC that have fallen off the grid. No one has been able to reach the Justiciar or his junior judges. I don't like how this is playing out."

Karla shifted her brush to her other hand and took another fist full of hair in her left, brushing it aggressively. "Sounds like some sort of cliché conspiracy crap."

"You sound like..."

Karla narrowed her eyes.

Nathan grimaced and looked back down at the newspaper.

Her expression softened. "So now what? Who would have the resources to pull this off? Where are the bodies?"

"The police know how to do their job, kiddo."

"Meaning?"

Nathan shrugged. "Even if those bodies were pulled out, there would have been forensic evidence to prove they were there to begin with. But the paper claims no one died in the fires."

"I'm listening. What's your angle, Nathan?"

"These are highly coordinated strikes on multiple locations throughout the city. One of the newspapers mentioned a warehouse fire in Los Angeles, so we know it's all over the state."

"Like I said, when the town goes on a witch hunt, you deputize a bunch of young boys and attack every known witch at the same time. But who is doing it?"

Nathan sighed. "Do I need to be blunt?"

"You usually are, that's why you're confusing me, old man."

"Sounds to me like it's the cops carrying out the attacks."

Karla furrowed her brows. "Cops don't attack supernatural citizens. They don't even believe in the supernatural. And that sort of thing would get out. You'd have some officer who feels guilty and exposes everything. There'd be a cellphone video leaked on YouTube..."

"Would there?"

"Nathan, there would be something that gets leaked. It's human nature."

Nathan folded the paper in half from left to right. "Maybe only select cops were hired for the job. Ones who are carefully scouted in advance who have a certain personality."

"Cops are no match against elite supernatural people with money and powers. Not buying it."

"Well, you can't deny the facts: Fifteen fires all in the same night, all in San Francisco and Oakland. It could be more but accurate numbers are not getting reported."

"It would have to be more than just cops, then."

Nathan nodded in agreement. "Cops, Ex-pats, religious zealots, and known hunters."

Karla grimaced.

"We need to look into this, kiddo. You've seen an Inquisition first hand, right? I'm telling you right now, Karla, this Aris Falcon guy you mentioned is at the heart of this."

"He kind of did me a favor. All the people who died were people who hated me for using my abilities."

"Karla..." Nathanial sighed.

She threw her hands up in disgust. "It's not like I did anything outside in public! I broke into the Defense Clandestine Service to access files that I thought the CIA created about my father. Besides, I have other reasons for disliking the people who died in those attacks."

"Why the DCS?"

"I got a tip from a boy-toy that DCS was receiving shared files."

"What was the tip, Karla?"

She started pacing the living room floor. "There was a file that mentioned me by name, so I broke into the DCS to find it. After all, the CIA is too fortified nowadays."

"Word on the street is that you broke into the CIA."

Karla grinned. "Yeah. Everyone thinks I broke into the CIA, heh. I'm letting people think I got into Langley because that would be brag-worthy."

"McLean," he replied.

"Semantics. Langley is in McLean, so it's both. They beefed up their perimeter defenses back in the summer of 2011. God knows why."

Nathan frowned. "Yeah. The DC earthquake in late August of 2011."

"Huh?" Karla furrowed her brows. "What quake? Must not have been a big one."

"Never mind. It's not important anymore. So, Karla ... why the hell did you break into the DCS for a CIA file anyhow?"

"I was looking for a file about my father dated from 1999."

Nathan tilted his head. "I thought he died in the supernatural civil war drama in 1908."

Karla frowned. "I'm sorry I never told you."

"Tell me now," said Nathan.

"My father called me on the phone in 1999. I've been looking for him ever since. I heard the CIA had a file that mentions my name, but most of the file is redacted. Then I heard they were sharing files with the DCS, so I broke in and went for it. Anyway, I messed up; I was wrong. There is no file."

Nathanial arched his brows, creating creases across his forehead.

She shrugged in reply and lowered her voice. "I got in, I found the raw un-redacted file, and ... surprise, it wasn't even about my father. It was about my time with Marcus. It was dated in 1999. Most of it was what they learned about Marcus when he and I went to France and Russia. The files were useless, save for the trip down memory lane."

"You still attacked a Government agency and used telekinesis and teleportation. That is why the sect considers you 'trouble.' You made a mess and it was filmed on security tapes."

"Nothing is on 'film' or 'tape' anymore, Nathan."

"You still attacked the DCS, Karla."

"But my abilities were kept indoors! My abilities were seen by people who are under orders to keep their mouths shut, by threat of treason!"

"Like you said earlier, it only takes one person with a cellphone camera to leak something like that, Karla."

She looked away, still pacing the carpeted floor. 'Classified and compartmentalized' or whatever the term is. It's high-level, need-to-know stuff. It won't get out."

"You just went off on another tangent and completely missed the point, Karla Anne. You really need to learn how to restrain yourself. You need to be more aware and focused."

"It's been a year, and Justiciar Reinhardt never came to kill me, okay? It's over. It's in the past."

"Karla, that's not what I meant! Supernatural people were just targeted and killed en masse in various locations all over the place. That's a huge red flag. Our kind is being targeted. You're a survivor, so you're a target, now. Your face is on a photograph on someone's corkboard of targets."

Karla fidgeted for a moment.

"What if Donovan was right?"

"About what?"

She shrugged. "What if this is an attack carried out by the Esoteric Council, trying to wipe out trouble makers?"

"That's not it, Karla. This is bigger than that."

"Nathan, these people hated me for a minor infraction."

"You said it yourself, Karla. The people who hated you most are now dead. Aris Falcon is the one behind this, not the council."

Karla's eyes lowered. "Yeah. Falcon is a huge douchebag for targeting me. But he also did me a favor. I'm happy to walk away from all of this."

"You don't get it do you? This isn't something you can ignore or walk away from. It's only just beginning. And it's going to be huge."

"How big, Nathan?"

"Bigger than anything you've seen. Bigger than Tunguska in 1908. Bigger than the death of Marcus in 1999."

"Don't bring that up, please."

"Look, I get it, Karla. He was the love of your life. I know how it feels."

"Do you? I had one goddamn month with my soul mate."

Nathan gave another tug at the gold band hanging from his neck. "Yes, I do. I know exactly how you feel. You meet your other half, and then they die. It's not fair, is it?"

Karla sighed.

"Maybe both of them would have been better off if I wasn't around to muck things up. I broke her heart by going off to war so shortly after marrying her. I deserved to have my heart ache when I saw her again. That's my fault."

"Yeah, okay, Nathan. I get it. Your miss my sister. But Marcus' death isn't your fault."

"Isn't it?" He smirked, gave another tug on the chain, and looked back down at the golden band, which was now too large for his frail, old ring finger.

Karla tilted her head. "Do you really blame yourself?"

"You know how I avoided the kid because of his ability? If I had things to do all over again, I would have gone out of my way to help you keep him alive. I would have been there and saved his life."

Karla swallowed down a pang of emotion. "Why the change of heart?"

Nathan looked up at her from where he sat. He rested the folded newspaper across his lap. "Falcon's people wouldn't be able to sneak up on someone like Marcus. Methos was right - he wasn't a threat. If anything, the kid would have saved us from this attack."

"Nathan..." Her eyes cut to the left. Her voice lowered. "You wouldn't have done it to make me happy, huh?" She grimaced. "Sorry. Didn't mean to be snarky with you." Karla pursed her lips.

Carrington shook his head with a sigh. "Either way, it's too late. I played my hand the wrong way, I stayed out of the picture and the kid was killed. I've had twenty-four years to think about that."

The succubus stared at him, wide eyed. She tilted her head. "Nathan, it wasn't your fault that he died. I had no idea you felt so strongly about it."

"I avoided the kid because I felt like my secrets would have made him a target. I felt like my secrets were a huge deal and mattered. But in the end, all my secrets are just worthless bullshit, Karla."

"What do you mean?"

Nathanial shrugged with a weak smile. "I have a feeling I'm not going to survive the coming storm, kiddo. But you will if you get your act together."

Karla leered at the old man for a moment. She dropped back onto the sofa, a look of confusion marring her brow. "Why would you say that? Why the hell would you even think that?"

He eyed her. "I am old, Karla. I mean, Christ, I can account for a hundred forty-six years. I'm wearing down."

"I've never heard you make such a ridiculous claim. You're not going to die."

"Karla, hush. I need you to step up your game."

"I'd never be able to handle this nonsense without you."

Nathan offered a wry smile. "Remember what Tesla told us about women?"

She paused and offered a fond smile. "Yeah. He said that women would become the dominant gender role in time. And he showed you how to dress dapper. I liked him. Too bad being surrounded by supernatural people made him anxious and a bit manic."

"Yeah, that was frustrating. Especially after all I did to help him get some funding from J. P. Morgan."

Karla blinked. "Say what?"

"I saved J. P. Morgan from getting on the Titanic, Karla. Later, I called in a favor and asked him to give Tesla a lot of cash. I went to bat for Tesla, but by then, he was obsessed with spending the money on..."

"I thought J. P. Morgan was involved in a conspiracy to sink the Titanic so he could start the Federal Reserve System, so he could make himself richer."

Nathan blinked. "Karla, where did you read that?"

"On the internet, of course."

"We lived together in America when the Federal Reserve was proposed. That was during 1913. There were no opponents to the idea back in April of 1912, so there's no way Morgan would have wanted to kill anyone over it."

"In 1910, Morgan got together with rich guys on an island in Georgia, and came up with the idea for the Third Central American bank system. One of the guys from that meeting became Woodrow Wilson's advisor. Rich people talk. You don't come up with an idea that big without a few years of planning, Nathan."

Carrington grimaced. "Maybe you're right, but I doubt it. If the sinking of the Titanic was on purpose, it would have been to collect on the insurance, not to kill people. You would need to consider a way to make sure these guys don't get on the life boats, and a bunch of other variables."

"Conspiracies are cliché, Nathan, but you can't deny that people with influence like getting together to control a situation. Look at the Esoteric Council and their place among the rest of the world."

Nathan sighed. "Look, remember World War Two? You saw first hand how conspiracy theories could take a life of their own."

"Don't bring up the Philadelphia Experiment, babe. We were talking about how much I liked your friend, Nikola Tesla. I went off on a tangent, and I got carried away."

"You remember when we disagreed about the possibility that Morgan killed Tesla after pulling his funding?" Carrington shook his head. "You were convinced."

"It's still say it could be possible," Karla said. "When rich people find out their in-pocket scientist invents a way to make free power and free lighting, it means their stock in the power industry would crumble."

"It was just a theory Tesla had. He didn't invent it, so he wasn't killed for it. He was struggling with the fact our kind exists, Karla. He became withdrawn and paranoid because dealing with the drama of our kind can be stressful."

"I really adored that man," Karla said. "Faults and all, he was fascinating."

Nathan shook his head with a chuckle. "Yeah." He sighed. "Tesla. The man was obsessive as hell, and you couldn't argue with him about atoms, electrons or the curvature of space. He was underweight and overly critical of people who weren't as thin as himself..." Nathan smiled fondly. "And let's not even talk about the pigeon."

Karla grinned. "The man knew two things. How to harness electricity and how to look dapper."

Nathan shook his head. "And he said your gender will become the dominant role in time. So, after I die, you'll manage just fine without me."

A Cheshire smile spread across the demoness' pink-painted lips. "I liked that he believed women would become the superior sex in the future. Too bad it hasn't happened yet. But we're getting there."

Nathanial smirked. "He came to that conclusion after meeting you, Karla. You're a pretty strong-minded woman."

"Actually, he told me he came to that conclusion after meeting my sister."

Nathan nodded. "Fair enough. But he didn't start buying into the whole 'eugenics' thing until after seeing your abilities."

"Not to mention your abilities," she said with a shrug. "Control over electricity was kind of a big deal to that man. Plus, after seeing you throw lightning, he wanted to build a weapon to emulate it." Karla grinned. "Remember that? The 'Peace Ray to end all wars.' Heh."

"Which never happened, despite pop culture."

"So why does everyone believe it?"

Nathan shrugged. "I guess people obsess over the fact the 'Office of Alien Property' scooped up his belongings."

"Why? Just because he was Serbian?"

"That and because he was working with us." Nathan's wrinkled old smile broadened. "And Hoover was obsessed with you, kiddo. Of course they wanted Nikola's belongings. What a bunch of bullshit, huh?"

Karla ruffled Nathanial's hair again. "You know, after eighty years, this is the first time I've heard you admit just how much you miss your friend."

Nathan shook his head and sighed. "He was certainly the most OCD and ornery fifty year old hermit I'd ever met back in 1906 - you're right, I miss him."

Karla smiled.

"All right. So... back on topic - what happens if this mystery group attacks you again, huh?"

"You tried to change the subject didn't you?"

"Guilty as charged."

"You're NOT going to die, Nathan."

"Karla, I need to know you have a plan if those slobs try to attack you again."

She frowned and offered a half-hearted shrug. "If they try to get in my shit, I'll throw them around like I did the DCS agents." Karla deadpanned.

Nathan tilted his head.

Karla looked back at the old man.

"What?"

She bit her lower lip. "Do you think the Government attacked us?" She paused, licked her lips, and then in a softer tone asked, "You think the Government has been doing research on our kind after my, uh ... stunt? Maybe they've been profiling us and it took this long to mount an offensive. They would have the resources to do this."

"I don't know. I doubt it."

"Seriously, Nathan. What if these attacks are my fault?"

He brought a hand to his chin and tapped a finger on his nose, pensively. "No, I'm pretty sure it's not the CIA or any other Government agency attacking our kind. But someone could be using Government resources to fund this group if they're good at covering their tracks. Maybe Falcon has a few people in the Government to make the attack possible."

"Well, when I find out who this Falcon creep is working for, I will kick this shit out of them so hard, they're gonna wear their ass as a hat. And then, I'm going to..."

Nathan lifted the folded newspaper up. He slapped the paper down on an end table, causing Karla to grow quiet.

Silence.

He cleared his throat with a frown. "We need to take this seriously, Karla."

"Okay, chill out, old man. Right now, we're kind of outnumbered or whatever. It's me against them, and me against every other supernatural person in the world.

"I think this is bigger than that. But I need confirmation first."

"I don't follow, hon."

He folded his arms. "What if they killed more supernaturals than you think?"

"What? Like _all _of us or something?" Karla grew silent for a moment. Finally, she said, "I came to that conclusion the night it happened, but now it sounds kind of silly."

Nathan stood up. "I wouldn't mind having this guy, Donovan Loupe, on our side. You should talk to him. We need to close ranks with other survivors of our kind."

"I'll see what I can do," she said. "Do you have any friends left that you can call?"

Nathan nodded. A wan smile tugged at his aged face. "I know a girl who will help."

"A girl, huh?"

Nathan smirked in reply to whatever it was that Karla seemed to be suggesting. "Yeah, kiddo. A girl. Her name is Sinopa Crevan."

Karla lifted a hand. "Wait, wait ... Sinopa," she said the name two more times.

Nathan folded his arms across his frail, aging chest.

Karla snapped her fingers three times in a row. "God that name is so familiar but I can't think where I know it from. I feel like I may have met her recently or something."

Nathanial shrugged. "You met her back in 1999. You two were friends."

"There are a few gaps from back then. Marcus died and he was ... my soul mate. There's a lot of blank stuff from around that time."

Nathan nodded.

"It didn't start coming back to me until just a few years ago. I must have blocked a lot of stuff or something because the whole summer from that year is a total blur."

"Mm." Nathan looked away with a sigh. "Maybe you repressed some stuff."

"Seems likely."

"Yeah."

"Yeah," she repeated. "I only started to really, really remember Marcus a few years ago. Some details are still a little spotty, but I remember the Esoteric Council had him killed."

"He wasn't going to walk again after his injury, so he made a deal with the Justiciar - he would give himself in if they left you alone."

Karla grimaced. "Little did they know that I hold grudges."

"I remember it all. And if I could have done things over, I'd have done _every_thing differently. I can't begin to apologize enough that he died."

Karla frowned. "Nathan..."

"Karla, I know how close you two became ... I thought if he learned what I know he'd have become a target. He couldn't protect himself, let alone the information that I know. At least not back then - he was only just manifesting."

With a frown, Karla walked to a nearby window and sighed. "You've already apologized. Don't start repeating yourself. Go up your potassium intake, Nathan."

"Don't be a wiseass. I don't have goddamn Alzheimer's, Karla."

"Look, I don't blame you. It's a shame we can't change time."

"Yeah, I know."

She pursed her lips together, trying to repress the emotion bubbling up in her chest. "I'm just saying ... you could have protected him, just like you protected your secrets."

"I know, Karla. I think about it more than you realize."

"Like you said, he'd only just manifested. With a little time and focus, he could have learned how to watch your back better than anyone. Those attacks might not have happened if Marcus was still alive."

"Yeah. I wasn't thinking clearly back then."

"You got that right." She sighed. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to be nasty about it just now."

Nathan smirked. "Sure you did. You needed to vent." He reached over to a small end table and picked up a laptop.

"Finally looking up to see if those attacks happened in other states?"

"Yeah," Nathan said. He drew the laptop into his lap, opened the screen, and pushed a thumb-drive into the side.

"Good."

A word processor program opened on the screen. Nathan tapped on the keys. 'Chance - New York City - Wednesday, June 2, 1999. Marcus Howard. Auto accident with father six months prior. Telepathy could have stopped attacks in 2023.'

Nathan saved his file, withdrew the USB drive, and put it into his pocket.

"What did you find?"

Nathan eased the laptop back on Karla's coffee table. "Yeah, there are arson reports in every state across the country. Most of the local stories are on social media, and quite a few were on news websites, but they were pulled already."

Karla blinked. "Then how did you read about them?"

Nathan shrugged with a wry smile. "The web archived a few, kiddo. Lucky us."

"Already?"

"I have a third-party app that nabs the RSS feed, archives the site for later reading, and saves the file offline."

"I will never understand how a man as old as you is able to use computers. I'm not saying you're a computer genius, but you're definitely familiar with them." Karla walked to her window and gazed out over the bay.

San Francisco was shrouded by a hint of fog hanging over the bay between San Leandro and the city.

Her eyes shifted, staring at the old man in the reflection of the window. "You've always been a little impatient with computers until recently, but you've always been computer savvy. That's always impressed me."

"They were too slow up until recently. Also, you're just as savvy with a PC, Karla, and you're way older than me." Nathan grinned.

"Touché."

Nathan rubbed his hands together as if trying to warm them up. "Marcus was a good kid. It's sad that he could have saved the Esoteric Community from whatever is attacking us now."

She turned from the window and offered the old man a smirk. "Ironic, isn't it? They murdered the man I love because his ability is considered illegal. But he could have used it to save them. So, the way I see things, those douchebags deserved to die."

"Karla..."

"Look, I'd rather not talk about this. I'll get upset all over again. So, about this woman - Sinopa."

"I just have to find her and, unfortunately, I think she is living in Japan at this point in time."

"I wonder if they've had any attacks."

Nathan replied with a tired smile. "I'll ask her." He picked up the newspaper and carried it to the dining room table. "We should take the fight to Falcon and we're going to need help. Do you still talk to Jon Parker?"

"I haven't in a long time," said Karla. "Why?"

"It's hard to explain but trust me - he'll probably know what's going on, here."

"It wouldn't surprise me, but Parker has been awfully quiet since getting married to Fara..."

Nathanial lifted his hand and held his fingers up to keep Karla quiet.

Karla pursed her lips together in confusion.

Nathan reached, with his other hand, and turned up the volume on a police radio scanner. "I'll be damned."

Karla moved towards the dining room and tilted her head. "I missed what it was saying. Recap, old man."

"Someone called the police and reported men in black military gear, armed and dangerous, who converged on a middle aged male and shot him to death. Then they were witnessed burning the body right in public at the park."

"In the middle of the day?"

"Apparently it was recent enough that they're still calling in units to investigate."

Karla tapped a manicured fingernail against her chin. "You know, I could go down to the Chronicle and talk to my friend there. If anyone knows anything it'll be him."

Nathan nodded in agreement. "I normally tell you to stay out of trouble but..."

"But what?"

The old man grinned again, followed by a wince from jaw pain. "This time, you have my permission to look for all the trouble you want. See what you can find out."

"Yeah? Why are you suddenly interested in finding out what the media knows?"

Nathan shrugged. "I think this is somehow related to the museum thefts that have been happening all over Europe."

The succubus balked. "Say what? Why would you think a couple of attacks against people would have anything to do with the disappearances of various artifacts on the other side of the world?"

"Call it a hunch. Just trust me on this. Do you remember when I told you we had to leave San Francisco back in 1989?"

Karla nodded slowly. "Yeah, you started packing the day of the second game of the World Series."

Nathan grinned. "Two days before the quake."

"I still drove back then."

"I remember."

Karla rubbed her thumb against the tip of her forefinger. Her eyes lowered. "I would have been on the lower level of the Cypress at five in the afternoon, old man."

"I remember that thing. They'd just changed it from Route 17 to Interstate eight-eighty."

Karla grimaced. "Yeah. Well, five years earlier, but yeah. Still, over forty people were crushed. I wasn't very good with teleporting yet. I'd have been crushed to death in rush-hour when that thing collapsed in the quake."

"I'd never let that happen to you, Karla. I never cared for that double-decker highway anyhow."

"I remember you were opposed to it, back in the 50's."

Nathan nodded firmly. "Oakland built that section of highway to destroy affordable black communities in the area."

She smiled. "And you've always hated racism - you've always been a forward thinker."

"Yup. We're all pink on the inside." Nathan offered a wry smirk.

"You lecherous old fart," she said with a fond tone of endearment. "You know, I never figured out how you knew that earthquake was going to happen. You're a mysterious old man, Nathan Carrington."

"You have no idea," he said with a twinkle in his eyes. "Go talk to your contact at the Chronicle. I'm going to run a few errands of my own."

"No offense but are you in any shape to fight? I mean, you know, just in case you're right."

"About what? You mean if I'm right about this Falcon character starting a secret war against supernatural beings?"

Karla nodded. She rubbed her chin. "It needs a name. This clandestine jihad ... this ... silent inquisition."

"Sweetheart," said Nathanial, "I might be in the triple digits, but I can handle myself. I'm willing to wager I have a little more time left in these old bones. Now get your butt downtown and talk to your people."

"What's the bullet-point?"

Nathan smirked. "We need to see if those international museum thefts and these attacks really are related. Also, we need to confirm if there have been more fires outside of this area that aren't being reported."

"Alright, Nathan. I'll have my friend check with his contacts and media groups in other major cities."

"Good deal, kiddo. Let's also try and find the Justiciar and have him talk to his constituency."

Karla reached a hand up and sifted her fingers through the old man's short grey crew cut. "You've treated me with respect all the way back to when I met you in 1906. And what a sharp looking young man you were back then."

Nathan grinned. "Thanks to Nikola. Anyhow, call me this evening and we'll compare notes. Remember not to get yourself killed."

"Well, gee, I'll try to stay alive, Nathan."

He reached up and snatched her hand firmly in his frail old fingers. He trailed his thumb over her knuckles. "Like I've told you in the past, you're important to the future."

"You're sweet."

"Maybe, but I'm just being honest." Carrington released her hand.

His body materialized into a brilliant white light. The cylindrical illumination shifted into a bolt of electricity.

The pillar of energy zapped across the room. The bolt struck Karla's window.

Nathan teleported himself outside of Karla's apartment. Several strands of her hair floated upward due to static electricity.

A slight brownish burn mark appeared on the glass, illuminated by the afternoon sunlight. Karla smiled inwardly. "At least I teleport more gracefully than you, old man." She ran her fingers back through her canary locks, shoving them into waves.

Her palms illuminated with a muffled pink glow. Karla disappeared without a trace.

---

Next Chapter: https://www.sofurry.com/view/616085