An Unwanted House Call

“What do you mean the Order might be sending someone over?” John asked, his voice carrying through the house as he practically shot out of his chair, causing Senka to join him on her feet and Beth to settle into the chair alone.

“Moira Brighton walked into the office we had snuck into,” Aeolia explained over the phone. “She was looking into everyone who was absent.”

“Which means my place’ll be on the list,” Beth chimed in, getting up from the chair herself.

“And since a group of holy knights will be calling instead of concerned educators, I doubt they’ll just go away when nobody answers the door,” Senka noted before she leaned closer to John’s phone. “Do you think there are people inbound already?”

“Hard to know,” Aeolia answered. “Vivian blacked out the computer so they moved to another office, but I doubt they’re going to be sitting on their asses for long if they aren’t already moving.”

“If they’re already on the case, I don’t think there’s a way we could beat them back to your place, Beth,” Vivian said.

John paced a bit, crossing in between Kiera and the tv.

“Ok, how exactly do you think they would go about this?” John asked, trying to keep calm. At least it was only the Order possibly coming down on them. The biases Aeolia and, to a lesser extent, Vivian had against them only made them seem like some moral authority, not some dictatorial **** hell bent on making everyone in their territory dance to their tune.

“I don’t really know,” Aeolia answered after a long moment of silence. “Said before I never interacted with them, just heard people talking about them.”

“I suspect they’d start with a canvas of the area to scout out any signs of magic,” Vivian said. “Though we still don’t know why they might be coming.”

“Isn’t it obvious?” Beth remarked. “They’re trying to suss out who tipped them off.”

“Wouldn’t they have started that on Thursday?” John questioned. “Why wait until Monday to look into who could have given Moira the letter? And why only look at absent students?”

When no one piped up to offer an explanation for that, John continued, “I don’t think pondering on why they’re doing this is going to help us right now. What we need to figure out is what we’re going to do when someone in plate armor comes knocking on our door.”

“Fairly sure they won’t show up in full regalia,” Senka joked in an attempt to lighten the mood. Failing that, she continued in a more serious tone, “Right. What to do if they actually show up? Option one: we give up the ghost and tell them everything. Option two: we attempt to hide and hope that doesn't cause them to look harder."

"Option three: we don't do anything," John added. "We don't know what they're looking for exactly or how they're going about things. Hiding or running might give them the wrong idea and exposing ourselves needlessly makes all the covert stuff we've done pointless."

"So we sit on our asses and just wait?" Beth asked. "Not exactly the most exciting plan."

"I'll take not giving the Order a negative first impression over 'exciting'," John remarked. "By the way, you two get Kiera's address?"

"Of course we did," Aeolia answered, putting on a faux air of offense.

"I think it'd be a waste to get that only to lose the opportunity to see if there's anything there," John said. "Think you guys can drive over and give it a once over or see if the Order is snooping around there?"

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Vivian asked with a hesitant voice. "If there is an Order presence, us showing up could give them the idea we're tied to Phantom Reach."

"I'm not saying you should go in magic blazing," John remarked. "Just, you know, drive around a bit, scout the neighborhood out. See if anything stands out, for either Phantom Reach activity or Order members."

"We are running around very blind, especially since now there's two groups we have to be cautious about," Senka said, looking over to Kiera. "A pity we aren't able to freely search though. Finding something of personal value might have triggered something for Kiera."

John turned his attention to the passive girl and found her eyes locked on him. He wondered if she was aware of what was happening and how it affected her.

"Maybe we can get lucky and the Order won't have anyone there yet," Aeolia commented. "We don't know how many people were out of school, so they might not have the numbers to cover every place at once."

John could tell Aeolia didn't really subscribe to that possibility, and he was inclined to believe the same. There was no way there were enough callouts to overwhelm the Order’s ability to send someone out to check them out. And he had no idea just how many people were a part of the organization.

“Don’t take any risks,” John said. “Just see if there’s anything of note and go back to Vivian’s. Probably the safest place at the moment.”

“Are you going to try to head there too?” Vivian asked.

“I don’t think that would be a good idea,” Senka interjected. “Vivian’s place is not on their radar, as far as we’re aware of, and we have no reason to think they know about her connection to John. Keeping it as a safe haven sounds like something we should prioritize.”

John nodded. “I think it’s best for us to stay put. Maybe since we haven’t been throwing around magic like crazy we’ll be fine. Wait, what about the attic barrier? Should I shut it down?”

“I don’t think you have to worry about it,” Vivian said. “It’s small, far from the ground and you haven’t done any real high level enhancements to it. It should be hard to sense and if they have someone who can, then they’ll probably be able to sense us anyway.”

“So no point in worrying, got it,” John remarked.

Before anyone could say anything further, the blare of a ringtone tore through the tense atmosphere. Beth scrambled to pull her phone out of her pocket, eyes widening.

“It’s Lynn,” she said and answered the call. “H-”

A frantic voice could be heard over the line, John catching lines like ‘are you ok?’ and ‘what happened?’ as Beth tried to explain things in vain.

“No, I’m fine,” the dark-haired girl nearly shouted into the phone. “Did you actually listen to the messages I left or did you just call when you saw them?”

That seemed to give her sister some pause because it was a few moments before she seemed to talk again, her tone and volume more measured.

“It’s a lot to explain over the phone,” Beth interrupted whatever Lynn was saying. “Can you come back?”

A pause then an answer, followed by Beth saying, “Um, home might not be the best place right now.”

“What?” Lynn’s response was loud enough that John thought Vivian and Aeolia could have heard it through his phone.

“Look, it’s way too much to explain over the phone,” Beth hastily said before she covered the microphone and asked John and Senka, “Um, where should we meet?”

“Here’s not a good idea,” John said. “Cammie’s?”

“Being in public with some friends at our backs would make things go more smoothly,” Senka chimed in. “But leaving may be an issue if the Order is looking.”

"Not like having her coming here like a tornado would be less eye turning," Beth dryly remarked before she uncovered the microphone and told her sister where they would be meeting, followed by a several minutes long back and forth as they argued over it.

“Listen,” Beth finally shouted into the phone before letting out a breath that would carry through, her volume decreasing back to normal levels, “things around here are a little messed up and showing up at home isn’t the best idea. And I’ll tell you about it at the diner.”

Whatever Lynn’s response, it was said too quietly to make out and the call ended right after, leaving Beth to look at her phone, a concerned look on her face.

“She got real quiet when I told her things weren’t all sunshine and rainbows,” she commented, her own voice low. “Do you think she knows something about what’s been happening? I mean, I really don’t know what she’s doing to earn money, but I figured she wouldn’t be doing anything risky. Not after what happened to our parents.”

Senka was quick to wrap Beth in a hug.

“I’m sure your sister has the best in mind with what she has done,” the spirit soothed the shorter girl. “She wouldn’t get as worked up as she did if she didn’t care.”

“Cares a bit too much,” Beth muttered, though her words lacked heat.

“Did she say when she’s coming around?” John asked.

“She said she’d take about two hours,” Beth answered.

“Well, that puts us in a good position,” Aeolia chimed in. “Vivian and I are close to Kiera's place. Kind of a rundown area. We’ll see if anything is around to see then head for Cammie’s. Sound good?”

“Yeah,” John replied. “Don’t…”

“Don’t do anything too risky,” Aeolia took the words out of John’s mouth and he could practically see her smirk. “Nothing to worry about. A quick look for anyone knightly, clues on Phantom Reach or something personal for Kiera, then we meet up. No fancy shit.”

“I’ll make sure we stick to that plan,” Vivian cut in. “See you at Cammie’s.”

The call ended and John returned his phone to his Inventory. He looked to the window by the door, wondering if anyone was out there.

---

“No one’s at the Gryff address, Captain,” the voice of Squire Carmine came through Harlow’s phone as he pulled his truck into the parking lot of a park nearby the Newman address. “No sign of any magic use either. I think the girl’s just playing hooky, sir.”

“Don’t jump to conclusions so quickly, Carmine,” Harlow said as he turned the engine off. “We’re dealing with the worst sort of enemy, immoral and intelligent. I would not put it past them to be able to take someone out without raising the mundane alarm.”

‘The fact that we keep missing them throwing around such foul magic makes a disappearing act like this seem like child's play,’ he thought bitterly. Being unable to find these blood stealers while they operated under their noses really got under his skin. How many people were lost because they remained unknown was a number he would likely never know and would plague him.

“Roberts and I are in position to keep watch,” Carmine reported.

Harlow let out a grunt of affirmation. “Check in every two hours. If we find nothing in six, we’ll rework the plan.”

“Copy that,” Carmine said and the line went dead. With all the teams checked in and in position, Harlow slipped his phone into the pocket of his shorts. He felt slightly ridiculous as he got out of his truck, performing a reconnaissance mission in his workout gear, but the Newman residence didn’t have a convenient place he could park and simply wait in his truck. So, a running canvas would have to suffice.

‘At least it’s not raining,’ he thought as he stretched, committing to the act. Limbered up, he began to run. Late morning on a Monday wasn’t exactly the most popular time for a jog, so Harlow saw few others as he steadily made his way down the street.

Soon, the Newman residence came into view, looking every bit the standard sort of house for its neighborhood. He kept up his pace as he neared, moving slow enough to take in the details of the abode.

‘Car in the driveway, so someone might be home,’ he noted as he ran in front of the house. He reached out to sweep the facade for any trace of magic, but as it was only a cursory glance, he didn’t feel anything.

‘Won’t be able to sense anything that is there without taking a moment to focus,’ he thought as he passed by. He chewed the inside of his cheek as his thoughts wandered. This whole situation was growing larger with every new facet they uncovered. He hoped the Warden was right in her hunch that yesterday’s incident was tied to whoever had informed her of this plot and that they would be able to find some thread to follow. Though that would also imply that someone trying to do right was unfortunately cut down, or worse.

Shaking his head clear of that dark thought, Harlow circled around the block. Focusing his mind back on the task at hand, he formulated a plan. He picked up his pace and soon drew closer to the Newman house once more. He stopped right in front of the home and bent down, pretending to tie his shoe.

As he mimed the mundane action, he extended his senses towards the house. He prided himself on his affinity for detecting magics, but he knew his limits. Unless there was some high level spell used or a barrier around the entire property, he wasn’t likely to pick up anything useful, beyond maybe being able to detect anyone inside.

At this range he would burn through most of his mana quickly, but he still reached out. He let out a pulse of mana in a wide arc, pushing it as hard as he could so it could sweep into the house, angled slightly upward in the hopes to tag anyone on the second floor. As his mana swept out, it hit several individuals, bouncing back to him like an echo. He counted five, four grouped closely together not too deep into the house and the fifth several meters further in.

While the information he gained was far from conclusive, it did give him some useful insights. One, there were people at home, and while jumping to the conclusion that some of them were the proper owners wasn’t the most wise choice, he had no reason to believe doppelgangers would be placed by their foe, given their previous actions.

Secondly, he could feel none of the lingering foulness that clung to the areas he knew their adversary had been. While it wasn’t a definitive clue that things here were on the up and up, it did help assuage some of his worry over the Warden’s supposition.

Having lingered too long pantomiming shoe tying, Harlow stood up and began to jog away, circling the block one more before heading back to his truck. As he approached it, another car pulled up, and Commander Darrell stepped out, dressed as casually as he was.

She nodded, foregoing the usual professional greeting given the setting.

“You don’t look like things are going bad,” she commented as she began to stretch. With the very residential nature of the neighborhood, they elected to alternate between running and driving around to keep tabs on the target.

“Nothing stood out,” Harlow said as he pulled a bottle of water from the truck. The jog hardly amounted to a light workout but still, he kept up appearances. “Did a scan. Five inside. Don’t think we can do a more detailed survey without getting too close.”

“Any word from the others?” Darrell asked.

“Carmine said things are quiet, still waiting on Murphy to call,” Harlow said. His pocket began to ring as if the Lady had heard his unspoken desire.

“Murphy reporting in,” the voice on the other end of the line said in a gravelly voice. “The ‘Grau’ address is pretty run down for someone in that school. Seems like no one’s at home, either. No signs of any struggle or magic use though.”

The sound of breaking glass just barely made it over the line and Harlow heard wind as he presumed Murphy was moving towards the sound.

“What’s happening?” Harlow demanded, his urgent tone catching Darrell’s attention.

“Sounds like someone broke a window,” Murphy reported, his breathing slightly heavy over the line. “Yeah, the window broke. From the inside.”

“I thought you reported it was empty,” Harlow reproached.

“That’s what it seemed like,” Murphy growled. “Neither me or Devons sensed anything when we circled the place. Hold on, sir, there’s something among the debris.”

A second later, Murphy resumed speaking, “It’s a note, sir. Has ‘Phantom Reach’ written on it.”

“Another note,” Harlow muttered under his breath. “Feel anything from it?”

“Nothing, sir,” Murphy answered after a moment.

“I’ll contact the Manor and have someone collect it from you,” Harlow said after a moment of thought. “And I’m sending Velazquez over for more eyes over there. Keep vigilant. Dismissed.”

“Aye, sir,” Murphy responded and the line went dead.

“Sounds like we’ve got a lead,” Darrell said as Harlow began to dial the Manor.

“Seems like it,” Harlow replied. “We’ll stick to the plan for now, just in case.”

Darrell nodded and began her rounds as someone from the Manor answered the phone.

---

“Think that guy’s with the Order?” Aeolia asked as Vivian turned onto the street Kiera’s ‘home’ was listed as being on, a rather rundown section of the town. Said person was a short and stocky sort of man with short cropped hair simply walking down the street.

“I don’t think wondering if every person we see is with the Order is going to get us anywhere,” Vivian answered. “Honestly, I don’t know how we’re going to pull this off without getting their attention if they’re around. I mean, they’re going to be watching the house, not like we can just waltz in.”

“Unless,” the redhead continued as they drove down the street, going silent for a moment to gather her thoughts. “They weren’t able to identify any of us from the note we gave them. I can’t imagine them not using their best sensors to scrutinize it. I also can’t imagine they’ll have them out in the field on what could be a wild goose chase.”

“So we just have to avoid getting seen, easy enough,” Aeolia remarked. “Just fly close and invisible.”

“That doesn’t get us inside, not without either breaking a window or the door,” Vivian said.

“I can shrink the window like I did back at the school,” Aeolia remarked.

Vivian chewed her lip. It wasn’t a bad plan, but after the close call at the school, she wanted to play things safer.

“I think we can do things a little more covertly,” the redhead slowly said. “Your spell might leave enough of a trace for them to use, so I don’t want us to leave a footprint unnecessarily. I think I can bend the light from inside the house to do a sweep for anything worth taking. I can do that at a range that should slip under the Order’s sight.”

After a moment of silence Aeolia said, “Sounds good. No point in going in if there’s nothing to grab from Kiera. And honestly, I get the feeling that this place is a decoy. A front so there was an address on file. Too public for a group going around stealing blood.”

“Yeah, that makes sense,” Vivian muttered as she pulled into a parking spot a fair distance away from the house on the opposite side of the street. “Keep an eye out for anyone looking at us.”

“Roger,” Aeolia chirped. “No one’s going to peep on ya.”

Smiling slightly, Vivian closed her eyes and focused her mind. She bent the light between the car and the building, and when she opened her eyes, it was like she was peering into the house. It was a sparsely furnished space, just enough to give the impression that someone did live there.

But the fine layer of dust built up on the table and floor spoke of a room unused. With a small surge of her mana, Vivian’s perspective shifted, dashing further into the house, reaching the likewise disused kitchen. With a little twist, her view spun enough to see the appliances weren’t plugged in.

Letting out a breath, Vivian closed her eyes and released her hold of the light.

“It’s all a facade,” she said. “Dust everywhere and things like the refrigerator aren’t plugged in.”

“So there’s probably nothing there for Kiera,” Aeolia remarked.

“There were a couple of closed doors, but the dust around them makes it pretty clear that no one has opened them for a while,” Vivian answered.

“So besides learning that the Order is looking into us, today’s kind of been a bust,” Aeolia groaned.

“At least we know they’re on the case,” Vivian said, though the bitter taste of the failed venture to help Kiera or learn more about Phantom Reach made her words feel flat.

“Was there a window in the kitchen?” Aeolia suddenly asked.

“Yeah,” Vivian replied. “Why are you asking?”

“Well, I’d rather have this trip mean something,” Aeolia said. “So I was thinking we could leave a clue for the Order. Like say, name drop Phantom Reach.”

“How?” was Vivian’s response to that suggestion.

“Slip in the back, wrap a paper with their name on it around a rock, and throw it out of the front window when someone is close enough to hear it,” Aeolia explained.

Vivian opened her mouth to argue against it, but the simple plan was one they could pull off without drawing undue attention to themselves. She pulled a notebook and pen out of her choker and quickly wrote ‘Phantom Reach’ upon it.

“Don’t shrink it,” the redhead said, folding the page as small as she could. “The veil shouldn’t leave too much of an imprint. Get in, throw, and get out.”

Vivian could make out Aeolia’s sharp nod as the paper square was picked from her hand, a part of it fading from sight. She rolled down her window and Aeolia flew out.

“Really need to tweak the veil array,” she muttered as she watched her first girlfriend fly away. Her gaze shifted down the street, where a stocky fellow stood near the corner of the property, talking on his phone. Suddenly he rushed towards the house, stopping right before the newly broken window, phone still to his ear.

Vivian tracked Aeolia flying back to her, taking a roundabout path to avoid detection.

“Seems to have gone smoothly,” the redhead remarked as Aeolia settled into the seat beside her.

“Piece of cake,” the winged woman said. “Shrink the back window, pick up a rock, throw rock with paper, fly out. Window shifts back to normal size as I leave. Speaking of, why aren’t we?”

“Running right away is a good way to get noticed,” Vivian explained, as she turned on the car. “By giving it a few moments, leaving doesn’t look too suspicious.”

She pulled away as the man peered into the house. She caught him looking towards them, but a quick shift of hue meant if he did report them, he’d have the wrong paint color. Safely away, Vivian’s thoughts turned to the next issue they had to deal with. She had a feeling it would take all her diplomatic skill to make things work with Beth’s sister.

‘I just hope Beth isn’t going to be too hot headed and make things worse.’

Thanks again for reading this little story. If you liked the chapter, please hit that thumbs up, and if you want to support my writing, check out my Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/ScrapCrow. Get access to my chapters before they’re published here and join my private Discord.