100- Inside Her Room

Quayleigh was genuinely concerned as she stood and stared at the bookshelf before her. She had expected for Uroxuz to have returned by that point, and his continued absence left her reeling. Glancing over at the clock, she counted out the hours, for as much as she enjoyed Phaedra's company, finding him to be unlike the warnings she'd received, getting out of the MET had become a more pressing matter.

Turning about, she joined Riannoske, who was busy examining a scroll that had been laid out on the station behind her.

"Are you in need of assistance?" he asked as she moved around the table.

"Yes, I suppose I am," she replied, as her eyes danced across the details of the elaborate decoration at the scrolls edge. "Is this a continuation of the previous scroll you examined?"

"No, but it does mention the Wuk'chikad, several times, and does come from the same dynastic period. I'm compiling and translating the verses for you now."

"I appreciate it, but once you're done, don't trouble yourself further. I believe Phaedra's correct," she couldn't stop herself from groaning as a sharp pain screeched through head, radiating from the back of her gifted eye.

Clutching at the side of her face, she could hear the concern in Riannoske voice as he dropped his papers and moved to her side.

"Are you alright?" he asked, setting his hands upon her shoulders to steady her.

"I'm not sure," she replied, straightening herself up. "My eye's been giving me some problems the past couple of days, but that was a bit more intense than normal."

"Please, come and sit down," he said, guiding her over to the stool at the nearby desk.

"Thanks, but I don't think it's anything to worry about," she remarked as she took a seat.

"Perhaps, but I can take you to the MET's medical facility if you wish to see one of our healers. They may not be able to fix the issue, but they will be able to at least make you more comfortable."

"That won't be necessary. I have medication in my purse…" Once again, the pain radiated from her eye and caused her to gasp and wince. "Okay, I think I'm going to go to my room for a bit and take some meds."

"Allow me to assist you."

Riannoske offered her his arm and guided her back to the exchange, where he aided her in swapping out her shoes before walking her back to her room.

"Lay down and rest for a few minutes. I'll be back shortly with some water once I inform Phaedra of your condition," he told her while helping her onto the bed.

"I would appreciate that," she remarked as he took her gloves and mask and set them onto the desk.

"Where is your purse?"

"Locker, behind my coat," she replied handing him her ID badge.

Swiping the key into the lock, he opened the locker and retrieved her purse, handing it to her before leaving the room, and closing the door.

The moment the door latched she tore off her eye patch and harshly rubbed at her eye.

"Fuck that hurt!" she sneered as she rubbed at her temple. "And where are you, Uru?"

"I am here," he whispered, dropping down from the ceiling in his solid form and quickly wrapping himself around her in a frightfully protective manner. "Betrayers. Deceitful rotten things," he remarked as he set a small microphone into her hand, a snapped wire dangling from the back. "They cannot hide such petty toys from me."

"I should have expected as much. You didn't find anything else in here?"

"No, only that," he replied, as she leaned against him. "The elder one plots. He has your magic. Let me eat him!"

"Is he ripe?"

"He is ripe enough! A foul creature tastes the same be he ripe or not."

"And what does such a creature taste of?" she questioned as she stroked his cheek hoping to calm him down.

"Dust and ash. They are dry and turn to powder in my mouth. I find them difficult to swallow but satisfying to devour."

"Is he responsible for my headache?"

"Perhaps. He waves his hands about your magic as it lays upon a table covered in a cloth. Some small creature of fur leaks its life within a vessel. He pulls but I cannot follow. It becomes lost within the well that flows from beneath."

"That fucking asshole. Late tonight, when he's alone…"

"Silence, the small one approaches," he warned, slipping back into his dimension, vanishing away.

Quickly setting her eyepatch back into place, she opened her purse, and pulled out a small bottle of painkillers as a soft knock came to the door.

"Come in," she replied, opening the bottle, and dumping out a couple of pills.

Closing up the bottle, she put it back in her purse and zipped it shut as Riannoske opened the door and came back into the room.

"Phaedra is quite concerned and is on his way," he remarked, cracking open the bottle of water he was carrying. "Here you are."

"Thanks," she replied taking the bottle from him.

Popping the pills into her mouth, she took a large gulp of water and swallowed them down.

"Hopefully, whatever this is has passed," she said before taking another drink.

"Even so, it's best if you rest until your medication has taken effect, and you've finished that water."

"Yeah, I'm not against that, but you don't need to wait here with me."

"I'm afraid I have no choice. It's protocol. Until Phaedra arrives, I'm not to leave your side."

"Protocol for everyone or just me?"

"Everyone. As I'm certain you've noticed, near everyone here works in pairs. Only those of the upper ranks are permitted to work alone, but no one is ever entirely isolated. I suspect that your father's passing had much to do with the installation of these policies."

"As well as the cameras and hidden listening devices?"

"We are told they are necessary for our safety and security. When you grow up with them, they don't seem nearly as intrusive as you may find them," he replied as she continued to drink her water.

"It's not the ones I can see that are the problem. Those I understand, even if it seems a bit overboard to me, but what I don't like, is not know who's watching or from where."

"Quayleigh, how are you feeling?" Phaedra questioned as he strode into the room, the door closing behind him. "Tell me what happened."

"Bit of a sudden headache. Nothing to be overly concerned about," she replied as she stretched her hand out towards him.

"You advised in your paperwork that this wasn't unusual, but for it to come out of nowhere? Are you certain you don't wish for me to take you to the medical department?" he asked as he took her hand and sat down on the side of the bed.

"I'm certain. I promise, I'm going to be fine. Now tell me, Tinbar, who's watching?"

"Gerotherine. He's up to something and I don't know what. All I know for certain, is that he never turned in the canvases."

"That's unusual?"

"Highly. They should have been delivered directly to the vault."

Quayleigh, already knowing what the magister was up to, found it difficult to lift her eyes from the bedspread. "He ordered you to rearrange the books?"

"He did. I'm impressed that you noticed."

"Not hard when everything else is so meticulous. Even a single book in the wrong place would be easy to notice," she explained as she stared down at the bottle in her hand. "Care to tell me why he made you do it?"

"He enjoys exerting his authority over me. I'm a nameless in an enviable position. He doesn't like having to ask me for things, so he orders it to ensure that I can't refuse. He feels that it's necessary to test you, but I don't like being used, nor do I like being told what to do in my archives with my books. Warning you of his machinations seemed the easiest course of action. He's watching you to see what you'll do, but I suspect it doesn't truly matter. I'm concerned that he has plans for you, regardless of the books you choose to read," he responded as she slipped her hand from his.

"He's not going to let me leave, is he?"

"He can't keep you here, regardless of what he wants," he replied, in a matter-of-fact tone, "at least not while you're under contract."

"Oh, right, because a piece of paper is really going to stop him from trying."

"It's not the paper; it's the payment," he stated, causing her to glance up at him.

"Harlowe hasn't paid up yet," she concluded before finishing the bottle of water.

"And until he does, Gerotherine won't risk breaking the contract."

"The thing is, Gerotherine has it backwards. Harlowe doesn't give a shit about what happens to me. He's even less inclined to stick to the agreement. And after what happened last night, I have no idea how he's going to react."

"What happened last night?" Phaedra asked as Riannoske took the empty bottle from her.

"They didn't tell you?" She stated, before shaking her head and chuckling at the stupidity of it all. "Last night, one of the detectives on the task force that sent me here, Hakan Kavak, he was attacked, inside the police station by the entity I was sent here to research. As far as I know, he's still alive, but Folsten was with Harlowe all night at the hospital, it's why she isn't here with me today. I would have told you in your office, but I don't like playing games when I don't know all the rules. Either Gerotherine was informed, and he never shared the information with you, or the police don't want anyone here to know what happened."

"But then how do you know?" Riannoske asked the obvious follow-up question.

"My boyfriend, Dylan, he's friends with Detective Yechiel Mazurka, who happened to be in the room when Kavak was attacked. Yechiel stayed over at our place last night, and he managed to speak with 'him'."

"Him?" Phaedra wondered as he reached in his pocket and pulled out the picture of Uroxuz that she had given to Riannoske to pass along the night before. "As in this creature?"

"Yes. That's the being that is responsible for the deaths. He's the reason I was sent here. He said something to Yechiel during their exchange, and I think it's going to be helpful in our research, but it depends on how far you're willing to let me push the boundaries of the contract. I don't give a shit about the politics or the game those two idiots are playing, I was sent here to identify what this creature is or the method he's using to kill his victims, and I don't think I'm going to find that in the books covered by the contract."

"And what was it that he said?"

"Baandahg."

"As in the Tuhané god?"

"Yes. Kavak is a Tuhané and a follower of Baandahg. Based on everything I know so far, I'm positive that he," she pointed to the picture in Phaedra's hand, "is a servant of Death. As in the god."

"I'm not certain I'm connecting the same dots as you are," Phaedra replied as he stared down at the photo.

"Baandahg, the failed god, is a sworn enemy of Death, and he attacked one of his followers. He speaks to his victims as if they're food, and given the appearance of the bodies, it's like he's eating their souls, devouring what's left of their lives. And Death is the only god I know of that deals in the acquisition of souls. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong. I sort of slept through my theology classes."

"There are other gods mentioned across a variety of texts, that could be considered manifestations of death as a god. Baandahg, however, is a specific entity, from a specific era, by a singular group of people," Phaedra lifted his hand to his chin, and closed his eyes, lowering his voice as he continued to ramble to himself before drawing entirely silent. After a few seconds, he opened his eyes and grabbed a hold of her hand once again. "If what you say is true, if this entity is one of Death's servants, then you are looking for answers in the wrong place. And I'm sorry, but there are only two books here that even reference Death as a god, and neither speak of him having any servants. There are, of course, thousands of references to Grim Reaper's, the underworld, shadows of death, and death in general, but most are studied as unprovable or considered entirely myth. This is a truly difficult subject though. There is just no way to identify which gods are Death by other names. In the case of Baandahg, his people call his greatest enemy Mohalbás, the god of bones."

"But it's a place to start looking for real answers. Will you allow me to read the books you have on Baandahg and Mohalbás?" she asked, suddenly feeling Uroxuz wrapped around her.

Looking up, she caught Phaedra's eyes with her own, her heart pounding and she found herself holding her breath to the tension that swept into the room. They had been in there too long. Uroxuz wasn't letting up on the pressure against her, and even though it was little more than a firm touch, she found it difficult to breath, until a loud knock came to the door, causing her to jump.

"Archivist, please open the door."

"It's Inniken," Phaedra whispered as he stood up and went to the door, opening it wide. "Magister, what can I help you with?"

"There has been an incident. You are to accompany Ms. Vershinin to the police station. They are expecting the both of you in a half hour. Now explain to me what all of you are doing in here?" Inniken asked, even though it sounded more like a demand.

"I apologize. I was struck by a sudden headache and needed a few minutes, but these two chatter boxes just wouldn't leave me alone until they were certain I was going to be okay."

"And are you feeling better now, Ms. Vershinin?" he asked, his tone unusually sly.

"I'm certain I'm going to be just fine, Magister. Thank you so much for your concern."

"Very good. A transport will be waiting for you both out front in five minutes. Your assistant will remain here to continue his work," he informed them before turning around and stepping out into the hall. "Best hurry along. I'll be waiting at the elevator."