Deadly Friends/Unexpected Enemies 02

"Did he give you anything? When he was talking with you, did he draw any symbols on your body or make you swallow anything?" Baxter opened up. Baxter seemed distracted and not in a good way.

"No; no he only gave me the phone -- nothing else. No, he didn't draw anything on me and no, I don't recall something being fed to me," Magdalena repeated for the thirtieth time. "Do I have to strip again?"

"They are using her to see inside our organization and hoping to know what our next move will be," Wolfe said but not in a language she thought she knew.

"I am not of much use," Baxter continued in the same language, "It is as if she's not in this room as far as I can detect. She seems sincere, but I have no idea how far they've gotten into her mind."

"She knows what we are saying - don't you, SA Alvarado?" Raithe asked the girl.

"Of course," Alvarado responded. "It's funny but I think I've heard it before -- no, it is like something is whispering in my ear, translating your words for me." Baxter stared at Alvarado intently for a whole minute and seemed to be straining over something.

"No luck," Baxter told Raithe. "Maybe Madame Valva could break these barriers in time, but I can't. They are way to complex and given the time line we are looking at a 5+ Circle Artist." Magdalena didn't know what a circle artist was, but a 5+ ranking seemed to impress this crowd. Their minds were running down one way -- Tessio as the women's pawn, so she returned to what she knew of Tessio, the professional killer and what he had been hired to do.

"I think I know where we can start looking," Alvarado began.

"We'll be in touch," Raithe commanded, "Stay here until we come for you." She wanted to scream.

Four hours later she was screaming for a bathroom break then she calmed herself, tricked them into bringing her some more water then pissed in the cup in the corner of the room. That was the moment Internal Affairs came storming into the room to 'humiliate' her.

That failed but then she'd done well at this section at the FBI academy too.

"That's disgusting!" one agent covered his nose. "You could have simply asked to go to the bathroom." She finished her business and dressed all the while keeping her back to them. When she finished, she resumed her old seat and put the glass of piss between the two men.

"I need to go to the bathroom," she grinned, "I haven't finished my business yet."

"You can go to the bathroom when you've finished answering some questions," the man glared.

"You don't lie during an interrogation unless it serves a purpose," she lectured him on the basics. "If you can give me access to a bathroom do so now, or be quiet. I have helped this investigation enough and we are not at the state that Tessio and company have gotten a hotel, had a good night's sleep and two good meals and are launching the next phase of their plan as we speak."

They laid into her after that, grinding at her the way every good IA team would over the death of SA Foster. She'd barely known the man and had been taking fire at the same time Foster had. She had been pursuing the prime suspect and his accomplice, her partner had taken fire and gone to cover so she had pursued the two people alone and she had been taken down by surprise.

Yes, she had known of the man though they had never met, e-mailed, or tweeted -- she repeated - again. She was describing him for the umpteenth time when Raithe and Baxter strode into the room.

"Excuse us," the lead IA agent stood and confronted Raithe while Baxter sped around the table and offered the phone to Magdalena -- Tessio's burner phone -- like it was volcanic.

"Listen up you bunch of hot-shots," The lead IA suit got out before Raithe raised palm barely an inch from the man's face.

"Shut up," Raithe yawned. "My crew is tired so I'm going to say this to you once then your ass gets circle-filed -- clear? My associate is removing all non-essential personnel from this command center. You will be returned to the Federal Tower where you will pretend to do your normal jobs until we have use of you again and you will come running when we call. You will not ask why; your pay grade doesn't cover it. Go."

"What about Alvarado and my other witnesses?" the IA agent muttered. He and his companion were getting ready to leave.

"All civilians have been released -- no charges filed, we will deal with the death of Field Agent Foster and debrief the four other agents who were at the scene. They are being processed and transferred as we speak."

"What about the sixth agent -- SA Alvarado?" the IA guy wouldn't let up.

"Her status is neutral, which means she has ceased to be any part of your business, am I clear?" Raithe glared at the man. By simple mathematics, the IA agent was about an inch taller than Raithe, but in the arena of who kills who first and eats breakfast while sitting calmly on their opponent's still-warm corpse, Raithe had the IA agent in spades. The IA agent made people's lives a living hell; Raithe sent them to Hell and covered up the hole.

The normal FBI agents exited the room right as Tessio's phone rang. Alvarado looked to Raithe who nodded. Two more pseudo-FBI entered as well.

"Hello Tessio," Magdalena began.

"So, have they brought you inside the SID yet, or are they still yanking you around?" Tessio sounded regretful of her predicament.

"They are still treating me like the ugly stepdaughter underneath the stairs," she answered. She suddenly felt an odd symmetry with the assassin, as if he was going through the same thing. She'd still gladly put him on death row too.

"Well, that will pass, or so I'm told. Your techs will trace this to the Old Palladium btw," Tessio added. With a few hand signs, Raithe dispatched one of Wolfe's sub-commanders.

"Magdalena, I don't have too much more time -- what can I do for you?" Tessio offered. The normal things like 'turn yourself in' were impractical and a waste of time, but;

"What is it you and the other two want to accomplish?" she asked. Raithe nodded his approval.

"My companions are Marissa, former Liege Lord of New York City, who owes me a life debt, and sworn enemy of the current Liege Lord Armand, and Hillary 'Hexane' Milne, Mistress of the 6th Circle and who wants Ms. Special Agent Camille Baxter to stick close to you seeing how Baxter is her great-grandchild. Finally there is me," he prevaricated.

"As for our plan: we are going to pull down the Veil and destroy the Council of Night because they are trying to kill the three of us. The point where a compromise can be reached has past. We have each passed beyond that point from which we will turn back," Tessio went back to his death-like calm voice. "We are well aware that thousands, if not millions on both sides will die. There is no other option open to us."

"Why are you even telling us this?" Magdalena coughed.

"The SID has been fighting this war since before the oldest current member was even alive and they are going to keep fighting it until everyone with you is dead and a fresh crop of agents sees too much and is brought in. It will never end as long as the bad guys can slip into the Veil and avoid you. They can do their jobs or they can start winning this war. Now they have a chance to think about it."

Raithe made a cutting gesture with his hand at Alvarado.

"What can we do for you?" she had to ask Tessio despite orders to cease the conversation. This all seemed like fantasy until she saw the grim, desperate looks on the faces of everyone around her. Tessio's words and terms made perfect sense to all of them.

"Don't die," were Tessio's last words to her at that point. Raithe pulled Wolfe close to the point their noses almost touched.

"Bring in everybody, including the Bowdy's, the McGregor's, and the Fallon Sisters; tell them they owe me and today I'm collecting." A third person, a woman with rust-collared hair and the standard FBI suit joined the group.

"Command isn't going to like you using contractors in an urban area," the agent pointed out.

"Jenna, they are professionals, not yahoos taking potshots at Sasquatch; they owe me and they'll do as the SID requests. They know the risks they will be facing more than any SWAT unit does, or aren't going in blind about what we are facing and we don't have the time to teach what we do have to the NYPD in the time left," Raithe explained to what was now clearly his outside liaison officer.

A few seconds to study the woman told Magdalena that this was yet another SID member she wouldn't want to meet in a dark alleyway if she was a mugger. The difference seemed to be that she was better looking and more social than the average SID trooper in that she could make banter and crack a joke -- while she used her high, thick heel in order to savor some other poor bastard's death rattle as she ground their throat to a bloody pulp - and loving it.

"We'll initiate a five point fortress system and go from there," Raithe began, "We will not pick any fights until Phase 2 and 3 Deployments are complete and our contractors are on site -- that is three days folks. I want psychics to have fields and sensors up in 72; let's move."

With that SA Magdalena knew she was part of the SID now; whatever paperwork covering the transfer would be done somewhere by someone. That is not what these people did.

"He chose you," Baxter snuck up on her.

"What; Tessio chose me for this?" Alvarado choked back her surprise.

"Of course he did and you don't even know how special that is," Baxter studied her, "Even I don't know and I'm the third oldest psychic in the SID."

"Oh -- um -- you don't look a day over thirty-five," Magdalena tried to be kind.

"I'm twenty-three," the psychic said without malice. Now the agent could see some horrid supernatural struggle was draining the life and vitality from the girl.

"Come on you two," Jenna corralled the younger women. "Magdalena, I'm calling you Maggy from now. Experience has taught us that long names get you killed, so you are Maggy."

"Camille, Raithe wants you to stick with Maggy until further notice," Jenna added. "Until she draws down on you or you figure out what the conduit is with this Tessio-character is."

"Wait, can't they work that in reverse?" Maggy worried. "Doesn't that put Baxter at risk from her so-called Grandmother?"

"Yes, it does," Camille nodded, "It is part of the job."

"Fuck that noise," Maggy pulled out her phone. Jenna reached for it mongoose-quick but Maggy was able to back-pedal out of range. "Tessio," she shouted into the phone and everyone around them froze.

"Yes, SA Alvarado," he answered. "I'm a bit busy."

"What did Ms. Milne do to me and I want your word that you won't let her do anything to SA Camille Baxter. Give me your word," Maggy demanded. There was a momentary pause.

"I'll call you back in thirty minutes with the answers. Bye." Maggy now expected to be bitched out royally instead there was a somewhat shocked look on both Camille's and Jenna's faces.

"How do you know about word-bonds?" Jenna inquired.

"I have no clue what you mean, but Tessio Nerospina has a code of conduct he seems to keep and that includes not shooting legitimate law enforcement agents," Maggy clarified. "I was hoping he would extend that to Camille here and have his cohorts follow that code as well."

Again, no one laughed. Camille did take Maggy off to eat and it also was clear that the psychics were shunned by the rest of the SID; they weren't cruel about it, but the humans simply didn't want to be around them if they could help it. Maggy entering their little world felt odd.

"Do you feel it?" Camille said as dinner turned into dessert.

"Sure; there is a low musical humming," Maggy answered. Camille and the other seven psychics in the room locked onto her.

"That's what we feel; are you sure you are not one of us?" Camille studied Maggy. Maggy was terrified of being a 'psychic'. All of these people looked drained and haunted way before their time. Damn it all, Camille had status for surviving to be "TWENTY -- THREE" and that felt tragic.

"I don't do what you guys do (whatever that is) but I've always had a sixth sense about danger and I can read people well. I sort of know where people are when I concentrate on it," Maggy said and all she could do was think about how magical that now sounded.

"Well, you don't 'feel' like one of us," so you are lucky with that," a psychic named Brian weighed in. On schedule, all the psychics took their meds. "These stop the worst of the nightmares and stop us from freaking out," he explained.

"Does that happen often -- freaking out?" Maggy requests softly.

"We lose as many to suicide as we do to monsters," Camille confessed. "There were two times, before the medical cocktail was perfected, when a psychic betrayed the unit and bad things happened."

"I'm -- sorry," Maggy was uncertain of what to make of that.

"What can you tell me of this Tessio and his history with Hillary Milne?" Camille prodded.

"Before I joined this group, we had evidence that he was over at Milne's place the night before the bank heists by Tessio and he remained there for two days. Clearly he planned out the Mafia hit with her - so going into Day Seven now."

"Oh," was Camille's, and all four of the other female psychics', responsed.

"What; is there something I'm missing; the guy is a cold-blooded killer," Maggy growled.

"Oh, we know," Camille tried to ward the new agent off of a bad impression. "It is -- well -- we have a financial allowance for the purpose of companionship. None of us date -- at all."

"How does my killer fall into this? He's not a hooker," Maggy made clear.

"Maggy, you wouldn't understand, but for any man to be that close to us for that amount of time is an impossibility. A 24 hour liaison with a 6th Circle Witch isn't possible; the man would go mad," Camille explained then; "How did Tessio ambush you?"

"He's the quietest man I've ever met," Maggy related. "I didn't know he was there until I was on top of him. He's not like you guys, who are loud and musical -- he was utterly silent."

"Let's get in touch with Special Agent in Charge Raithe and see what he makes of it," Camille said. The found Jenna first who was doing a first rate job of telling some self-important government official that they would comply with her request for a media blackout or she'd gladly show them how to crochet with their own intestines while their body, their feet sealed in concrete, was being lowered into the Hudson River -- without using those precise words.

Jenna hurried her conversation along then looked over to Camille when they were done.

"I think we have a Santa Cruz, SA Lewinski," Camille used Jenna's last name this time.

"This Tessio individual?" Jenna received Camille's nod. "In Santa Cruz seven years ago we found a person who could not only see Night Siders, he could follow their landmarks and access their portals to their realms."

"He was working a case with a private eye hunting down missing children and they ran straight into the Night Side. When what they were doing came to light, both the SID and the Night Siders closed in. We caught the guy but before we could get him with the program, he was lured away from our security detail and murdered by a gang of Night Siders."

"All hostile activity died down after that," Jenna said. "We couldn't find their bolt holes and then we had a dust-up in Cincinnati and Scottsdale, so we couldn't stick around. We never found the body so there was no autopsy and we never could figure out how he did what he did."

"So if Tessio Nerospina is one of these he gets a pass on all his murders?" Alvarado accused Jenna.

Jenna didn't act with words. She took off her jacket then rolled up her left sleeve. Just below the elbow were a multitude of savage wounds still not totally healed. She showed the arm to Maggy.

"This is the scar of the creature that nearly took my arm off and I can only show you it because Camille nearly killed herself keeping it attached," Jenna growled. "What I can't show you is the child I was holding onto when the creature swallowed him -- and my arm. The creature's tongue tore the screaming nine year old away from me and I was pleading for the kid to hang on. So fuck you!" Jenna snarled. "I'll recruit a dozen professional hitmen if we have to because he's a human being and they are not."

Around the three women no one seemed to have cared a damn about Jenna's outburst.

"How does anyone here pass their psych eval?" Maggy muttered.

"We don't," Jenna stated, calm once more. "If you do, we cycle you out as an act of mercy." It took Maggy a second to register that those words weren't a joke.

---------------------------------------

Hexane walked around the small room and contemplated her downfall. It was delicious in one way; her old life had become a boring shroud -- safe and sedate. Sure, she had power but was secretly afraid to use it and she was facing up to that fear. For a hundred years she had played it safe, then a chance had dropped in her lap to save a young witch and she'd reached past the safe and normal to take a different approach to resolve that issue.

Hexane was a 'medium' in the Daylight World, a fortuneteller and object reader. This had given her a variety of contacts, one of which had other interesting contacts and that had led her to Tessio 'Blackthorn' Nerospina. She'd only gotten to see him after the contract was fulfilled; by that time the death of the three Opus Dei operators was making the rounds and everyone was wondering why.

Her first thought was how young he was. Truthfully, her first thought was why was 'how did this huge black hole appear before my eye', she recalled staring down the gun barrel, but when she started talking the second thought was how darkly angelic Tessio looked. When she saw how affectionately his ward looked upon him, how closely she clung to him and how little he minded, Hexane had started figuring out ways to seduce him for one night of passion.

He had eventually delivered the girl when she made her choice and Hexane had shared her story among her kind -- sans his name, of course. They had done dinner and nothing else. A month later they had dinner -- and nothing else again. The third time she wrote a subtle charm and slipped it to him and adored him so much she felt like she would weep, or die.

Only when she got home and started to strip for a very cold shower did she discover he had slipped the charm back to her. Hexane had rolled back and forth on the floor laughing. He had disappeared for a year and she was dreading it was over but finally she broke down and searched for him.

She found him in Antarctica making some poor Russian slob climb into a water hole on the ice. Calmly he shoved the dying man's head beneath the surface with a pole until the water froze enough to keep the body down. That level of cold-bloodedness was actually a turn off and that might have ended had she ended her vision there. She held it on the boy for five more minutes and then see saw it -- the Death Note.

Tessio had let the man make a final request, or so she prayed. At Capetown she decided to follow the missive to Kiev where the man's daughter agonized before finally opening and reading the last words of her Father -- both pages. She thought about Tessio, there in the freezing cold, letting that doomed man write out his last request to his little girl. The mode of death had probably been per request, because she had never seen Tessio needlessly cruel since then.

"Your word is crucial," Marissa was lecturing Tessio. "It isn't about lying or the truth, those are mostly human concepts. What I mean is you are responsible for what you promise, be it a boon or a threat."

"So if I threaten to kill somebody, I either kill them or give them a way out when I make the threat," Tessio reasons. Marissa looked at Tessio then nodded.