Secret Business

A deep brass brazier in a perpetual eruption of flame and smoke casts skittish light through the otherwise abyssal darkness of the chamber. Cloaked figures encircle the flame; their shadows slice the room into segments. The circle is not complete, however, until at last a figure identical to the others sweeps silently into place, then steps forward into the light. Slowly, the figure draws back its hood, revealing a thin smile, cold eyes and an ornate jade and silver mask.

“Brothers and sisters,” he begins in deep sinister tone, “Sorry I’m late, traffic was bloody murder. By which I mean two of the coach men ahead of me got into a fight and one murdered the other in a particularly bloody fashion.”

“I’m pretty sure everyone knew what you meant, Steve,” replied another figure, stepping forward and removing her hood, revealing a white fox mask, chestnut eyes and a wide grin. “Love the new mask, by the way.”

“Thanks, I stole it from a long forgotten tomb. Some say it’s cursed.”

“Cursed with excessive handsomeness, maybe!”

“Maybe,” both figures chuckled as a third stepped forward. She wears a red and gold mask that looked like some kind of demon, “Ok Clair, we’re already late starting the meeting.”

“Secret meeting,” Clair interjected

“Secret meeting,” corrects the new comer. “So, how about you go over the announcements?”

“Right-o, Archchancellor. So as you know, Evalyn, who I think a lot of you have worked with before, is planning on proposing to her girlfriend and has invited everyone to the necromancy department next Wednesday for a masked ball, but don’t say anything because she’s planning to propose on the day.”

“Oh, that’s so sweet!” states one of the shadowy figures, and there was much murmuring of approval.

“And secondly, Alison will not be joining our meetings for a few months as she’s gone off to have the baby, due any time now, so Deathgore from accounting will be filling in,” one of the figures nodded at the name.

“Right, if that’s it for the announcements, lets discuss the great purge, when the streets run red with the blood of the innocents and all but the most wicked of souls will be reaped.” The room seemed to grow darker as she spoke until a small hand gingerly waved in the air as Clair awkwardly cleared her throat.

“Oh actually, one more”

“Oh, I am sorry Clair, I totally cut you off, please go on.”

“There a cake sale on, to raise a bit of money for new grave robbing tools.”

“Delightful!”

“Our Michael made a lovely lemon drizzle cake.”

“Oh, I love a lemon drizzle. Right, so, end of days.”

“Are we for or against?” asked one of the figures jokingly and there was a general jovial murmuring.

“Yes, yes, we all know a few souls that could do with a solid purging, but this is serious. Our sources say Lord Randle is planning to open the great gate not but three days from now, when the moon shines at its full,” For a moment, a silence heavy with dread permeated the room like an acrid fog. “So we obviously need to murder him well before then. Now, Steve and Frank, I know you two are rammed with the bone harvest at the moment, and Deathgore I know accounts can’t spare you either. What’s everyone’s schedules like?”

“The next full moon is Wednesday. I am free that night and obviously my Lycanthropy should be enough to get the job done,” said another figure as he stepped forward and removed his hood, reviling a wolf mask that was a little on the nose, and also the rest of his face. 

“ Good idea but we really want to close this of asap but we can circle back to that as a contingency, thank you Liam.”

“How about the amulet of the damned? This feels like the perfect job for an angsty spirit,” suggested Clair.

“Needs charging,” added a voice from the shadows.

“The blood altar is free,” Clair suggested.

“Sure, I haven’t use it before though so I could do with some training,” the voice replied

“The alter only works on the full moon,” a different voice interjected

“Oh, well I could still use the training.”

“Ok, well I can go over it with you, let’s talk about it off line.”

“Right-o.”

“If I may?” said another of the figures as he stepped forward. He didn’t remove his hood but what light could penetrate the void found only scars. “We’ve made great work with the hell hounds, all they need is a scent to track.”

“We have a vial of blood, actually,” interjected the Archchancellor.

“Oh,” piped up another figure, “if you’ve got some blood I can have one of my girls put a hex on him tonight. Won’t kill him but will slow him down.”

“Great… remind me what a hex does again?”

“The victim will awaken to fatigue, weakness, a clouded mind and erectile dysfunction”, the term erectile dysfunction made the figures in the room pause and simultaneously turn to look at one of their fellows, who shrank under the sudden pressure.

“No Succubi are available at the moment,” the figure stated, a little embarrassed by the attention.

“Hell hounds are a little conspicuous. An animal attack in an inner city mansion will not go unnoticed,” the Archchancellor thought aloud. “Felicia, do you have anyone available?”

Felicia stepped forward; she was holding a large folder that had a fluffy pink cover. “I was just looking,” she replied. “So ‘The Untimely End’ would be best suited for this kind of mission but he and ‘The Darkest Shadow’ are busy dealing with the crusaders in the Holy Quarter.” She scribbled a few notes. “I have ‘The Grim Demise’ on holiday this week but I could see if she could come in and push the holiday back?”

“Could you?” asked the arch chancellor sweetly.

“One moment,” Felicia, the head of assassins said and pulled out a stone engraved with a number of runes and a strange approximation for a human face. She started sequentially pressing the runes as she left the room, and started talking into it as she went through the door. “Demise, honey, how are you, I was wondering…” her voice was cut off by the heavy wooden door to the chamber shutting behind her.

The room was filled with silence save for the snapping of embers in the great brass brazier.

“Anyone see the joust last night?” spoke a voice in the darkness

“Oh yeah, what were they thinking, putting the dark knight on so early?” spoke a different voice in a different part of the same darkness

“The problem with the Londinium lancers is they always try and walk it in. It being the lance into the opponent, I mean,” chimed the first patch of darkness as the door opened and closed with a dull thud.

Felicia returned to the flame, “So ‘The Grim Demise’ is happy to come in, she works mainly with poisons which should be perfect. Lords are typically decadent eaters.”

“That’s perfect yes, so Alice, can you talk to Bridget in stores and have one of your girls perform a hex?”

“Will do!”

“And Felicia you can have ‘The Grim Demise’ murder the Lord before Wednesday?”

“Yes, I’ll have her do Tuesday morning. That gives her the afternoon to apply a second dose if he somehow survives.”

“Great, and Liam, can you keep your schedule open for Wednesday and be ready if anything goes wrong, which I can’t see happening.”

“Of course,” the wolf-masked figure replied

 “Felicia keep Liam in the loop, will you?” Felicia nodded. “We got there in the end, oh and do get ‘The Grim Demise’ something from the cake sale for being so flexible,” said the Archchancellor.

“Oh, of course, will give me an excuse to pick myself up some of that lemon drizzle, it sounds lovely.”

There was much murmuring of agreement.