Quintas stared at the disembodied head on his desk. It grimaced at him from two mouths while leaking a pool of ichor around it. The eyes looked bored, not dead, and it stank of burned things. He supposed he should be greatful that Jude had swept his desk free of his notes and books and other paraphernalia before dropping the bulbous thing on his desk. He looked up at the woman in question.
She stood before him like a cat who’d just presented it’s master with a half eaten mouse. He wasn’t quite sure how to react properly to this offering. To scold her might set her off, to praise her might encourage further unsatisfactory behavior. He looked to the tall skinny man beside her. He looked mortified and slightly sick. Quintas often wondered why Anson followed Jude around like he did, they were simply mismatched.
“Well,” He cleared his throat and straighten. “And the rest of the body is where?”
“Dissolved in the sewer.” Jude rocked up on her steel toes. “Watched the whole thing myself. He washed away like sand on the beach.”
Quintas contemplated that. He eyeballed the head again.
“And this is all that’s left?”
“Yes,” Jude said.
“Fortuitous,” he suddenly itched to get the head back to his laboratory.
“So you don’t need us anymore, right?” The boy, Anson, spoke up. He paled when Quintas turned his attention to him.
“Not currently, No.” Quintas smiled.
“Then I’m going to go,” Anson edged to the door. Quintas shrugged. The boy left. Both Jude and Quintas watched him ascend the stairs and waited till the door clicked shut.
“I’ll need to inform the Duchess,” Jude said once they were alone. Quintas nodded and Jude pulled out her cell phone. Quintas went about cleaning things up a bit before the ruler of the city arrived. By the time she stepped out of the shadows he’d managed to get the head into an acrylic box and had the majority of the ichor cleaned up. She still wrinkled her nose at the smell.
“This is the creature that burned half of Market Street?” she walked over to look into the clear box, if she was affected by it’s gruesome contents, she didn’t show it.
“The same,” Jude said. “We found him lounging on a bench before he attacked us.”
“Casualties?” the Duchess asked.
“Some, but none that couldn’t be explained away. Only a few directly killed by him, most were injured or killed by the fire and exploding glass.”
The Duchess frowned at Jude .
“I will want exact numbers,” the Duchess said. Jude nodded and frowned. “Well then, Quintas , what do we have here?”
Quintas pulled himself into his lecture stance, and removed the glasses that were merely a prop.
“When last this creature was named, we called it Jack-Jaw. It was a quaint folk name given by the locals at the time. I still don’t know exactly who released him then, it could be he simply slept for various lengths of time and then woke. Once awake he moved quickly. On October 8, small fires began just outside of Peshtigo in Wisconsin, these mostly went unnoticed as things were more spread out then and news only traveled so fast. The first major fires were in Peshtigo, from all accounts this was and is the deadliest fire. From what I can put together the demon then spread to Green Bay, crossed Lake Michigan to Holland, down to Manistee, and then to Chicago, Illinois. This is where we became aware of him.”
“You said this was all done in 6 hours?” the Duchess asked. Jude blinked in surprise, this was the first she’d heard this.
“From the accounts I retrieved, yes.” Quintas handed the Duchess a folder. “These are the accounts from that night written by Effie James, the Sage of Wisconsin and Andrew Kinsley Astor, Sage of Michigan.”
“Nothing from Illinois?” She flipped the folder open to read the carefully preserved and protected papers.
“It wasn’t necessary for Garrick to give a statement, I was present as well.” Quintas said.
“I see your statement, but you were not the Sage of Indiana yet,” the Duchess carefully flipped pages.
“I was still new to the city at the time.” Quintas felt Jude’s stair from across the room. It was unusual for one who wasn’t the appointed Sage to keep records, but Quintas wasn’t a usual man. The Duchess read for a bit longer, then looked up.
“You were brought here by Her Majesty to consult on another mater?” the Duchess said, repeating the line he knew she’d read.
“Frances was killed 1860 during a raid on Corydon. He didn’t relocate with her Majesty to Indianapolis. I was brought in the spring before the fires to help reconcile Frances’ records.” He paused to let her put the time-line together. “It was an interview of sorts.”
“One you passed, it seems,” Jude said. She was now lounging on one of his gray suede chairs.
“Monsieur Villias is still not the official Sage of Indiana,” the Duchess corrected. “You have been without one since the death of Monsieur Frances.” The Duchess closed the folder and handed it back to Quintas. “Your account says you were able to bind the demon into a honey pot and sealed it with several intricate wards.”
“Yes, at the time the gentleman who helped us, a mage named Salem, was still rather untrained, but he was talented. He managed to seal the jar, ward it, and then hide it. Garrick, Salem, and I were the only one’s who knew the jar’s location.”
“So it is possible that Garrick or Salem discovered it and opened it?”
“Possible, but not likely. I contacted Garrick immediately after sending Jude to deal with the demon, and Salem is currently the head of his own guild in Chicago. Both men are equally as surprised by this as I am.”
The Duchess’ cell rang, and she politely excused herself to answer.
“Oui?” There was a long pause as the Duchess listened to the muffle voice on the other end. She looked up at Quintas, then smiled. “Oui, Send him immediately since he is willing. The Mage will be a bit more complicated since the Local Guild is not on friendly terms with my city.” Again a pause. She nodded again. “If he believes so, then he is welcome as well. Could you ask them both to meet us at the Central Library Branch downtown?” She recited the library’s address then hung up.
“I was going to say that Garrick will be contacting you for permission to visit as soon as he can clear it with Lord Herbert. Apparently, he moves faster than I anticipated.”
“And he is bringing Monsieur Salem with him,” The Duchess said. ” Jude, they have my permission to be here.”
Jude nodded, acknowledging the formal permission for what it was. As if timed, there was a knock at the door.
“Ah, Garrick knows where my office is,” Quintas said as he moved to get the door. Jude stopped him.
“I’ve got this,” She said. She clanked up the stairs in her boots and yanked the door open. She grinned unbecomingly at the two men looking down at her. “You are welcomed and protected by the Duchess of Indianapolis.”
The taller of the two men, a grizzly man with salt and peppered wiery hair, smiled with false warmth and bobbed his head.
“We acknowledge and accept her hospitably,” His German accent was noticeable, but didn’t obstruct his words. The other man stood behind him, he was only shorter by a few inches, but his contrast was striking. He was tan, and blond, with bewitching blue eyes. Jude noticed him, and his smile was genuine.
“We most certainly do,” the blond said. Jude frowned at him and stepped back. The two men took the hint and stepped in and down the short stairs. The Duchess and Quintas met them.
“Ah,” Quintas extended his hand to the two new men. “Mister Gerrick Bernard, Sage of Illinois and Master Salem of the Chicago Libellus Guild, may I introduce the Duchess of Indianapolis, Alanis Belleflur .”
Both men incline their heads respectfully.
“I was told you’ve met our mutual acquaintance Jack-Jaw,” Salem said.
“Oui,” She gestured at the acrylic box. Both men blanched.
“I’ll be damned,” Gerrick approached the box. “Quintas, you killed the beast?”
“Our Knight, Jude killed it.” He pointed at Jude who shrugged.
“Jude O’Barr ?” Gerrick asked and she nodded. “You’ve got a reputation.”
“Hopefully its all true,” Jude said as she draped herself over the chair again. Garrick grinned and nodded.
“Hopefully.”
——-
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