I did my best to reassure Damian, who was probably supposed to still be in the hospital, and told him to come to the pub. There was a knock on the door almost immediately. Topher let him in and got him a beer. I made him a sandwich. I've got a lot of butter to use up.
Damian told us when he last saw Celia, which was pretty obviously right before she came to see us. Her phone seemed to be off, which hopefully meant she'd followed the advice we gave her. With her presence at the warehouse being the last lead we had on her, Topher volunteered to go with Damian to help search. Fiona was staying home with her giant pile of books. I felt like I should be helping her with them. Then I thought about how I already had an appointment to read a load of old books with Amelia in the morning. Fiona, bless her, told me that the books were in old Slavic or something so I wouldn't be able to read them anyway, and suggested what I really needed was to get out on the wing for bit.
Vanessa is easy enough to spot from the air. I followed the car, but I was also noticing things I'd never noticed before. Signs of the Steamwheel court's presence across the city. Doubtless something to do with my new job. Bloody Firs.
Vanessa came to a stop at the side of a dual carriageway, and Damian immediately legged it across to the other side where there was a crashed car, lying on its side with all the windows smashed. I circled lower for a better look. Damian was having an argument with the police officer guarding the scene. Not getting very far since he's a hotheaded young idiot, but he was providing a distraction. I took the opportunity to get a closer look at the car.
The entire side was buckled. My first thought was that it had been hit by another car, but looking closer, that didn't feel right. Whatever hit it had been smaller and sharper than the side of a car. I stooped, going in through one of the side windows that now faced the sky, and had a poke around while Topher attempted to defuse the argument. The car smelt of loamy soil and decomposition. I'd smelt that before, on a vampire. I spotted an iron nail caught in one of the seat wells. The kind of thing you might carry as a protection charm, and this one smelt of Celia's perfume. As I retrieved it, I spotted something else. Red nail varnish. No, red lacquer. There was only one way that would get left behind. Someone had been in here wearing Louboutins.
Topher had calmed things down and had a friendly chat with the officer. Time to get out of there. I launched myself back into the air, iron nail in my claws, inadvertantly terrifying the officer on the way out, but at least the mundane police don't get funny about unusual looking birds in their crime scenes.
Back at the pub, Fiona seemed to be having some kind of ghost party. I tried to ignore it and went upstairs to get dressed. By the time I got back down, things seemed to be relatively normal so I shared what I'd discovered. The nail, the smell, and the lacquer. It all added up to one thing. Celia being abducted by Caroline Fortunato, mayor's aide and very powerful vampire. I thought we might have to restrain Damian from going after her straight away, but even he was smart enough to realise what a stupid idea that would be. Fortunately he didn't seem to realise the implications.
Fiona shared some of what she'd got out of her book pile. It all seemed to come down to one thing. A primordial fae, imprisoned somehow underneath Bristol. Straight away that reminded me of what the boggarts had said about the sandman.
Damian's phone beeped. Someone called Anton, telling him to lose his number. It sounded like Damian had managed to annoy quite a lot of people in his search for Celia.
We had to get her back. Not just because she's a friend and it's the right thing to do, but also because we all suspected by then that she was going to end up being the new Avonian Sibyl. The old Sibyl had maintained a fragile peace, which was already breaking down without them, and if their replacement ended up getting turned into a vampire, the consequences could be dire.
We needed weapons. None of us were exactly equipped for fighting vampires, and we were going to need silver. Fiona knew a shop in the market that sold silver and esoteric knick-knacks, which seemed like a good place to start. He couldn't help us, but he did know a weapon maker, and told us how to find him and how to respond to his tests, in exchange for Gus's phone number. At least I think that's what happened. I was distracted by his pet raven who was a complete arsehole and said a lot of uncalled-for things. I told him I hoped he got hit by a truck.
We found the weapon maker at the given address. An absolutely huge man, in a place that didn't seem to entirely confirm to the rules of geometry. He asked us to say his name. Fiona and me said it in unison. Wayland.
There were some shenanigans involving a hammer and anvil, which we recognised as the test the silversmith had mentioned, and once we'd convinced him that we could handle weapons responsibily, he gave us a shotgun, a crossbow, and a magic ring which he assured me would give my falcon talons a bit of an upgrade.
Damian had done his part while we were out, getting hold of floor plans for Carolina's house. We thought about heading out straight away, but realised that Celia still had time, and our chances of success were a lot better if we were well rested. I made us some dinner. Chicken kievs and garlic mash. Not all vampires have the garlic aversion, but I made damn sure that any who did would not be coming anywhere near us.
We drove to the house shortly before dawn. I went for a scout around in bird form, then reported back by typing into a phone. After I broke a couple of regular smartphones this way, we got a Blackberry with hard keys, and I told them that the top floor was basically deserted, and that there was hardly anything to see on the lower floors, meaning that most of them were going to be in the basement. Five flash looking cars parked around the back meant that Carolina had friends visiting, so we could expect some resistance. Oh, and there was one sentry on the roof, although he was a bit busy. I switched to emojis for that part. 🧛🪑🍆 I hope I made things clear.
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