44

Just to be sure I had some kind of warning should any bad things try to get into the office, I took the time to put wards on the windows and the thresholds of the office. They might not stop a creature, but the spells would hurt it and slow it down, giving me time to either fight or run. I was a big fan of running. You don't get hurt if you're not around to be hurt. Once the wards were finished I went to bed to catch up on some much-needed sleep.
I was awakened by an insistent knocking on my office door. I blearily turned over in bed and checked the time. 12:02 a.m. What kind of sadistic person knocks at midnight? One that was going to knock until doomsday, I turned over in bed and covered my ears with the pillow, which muffled the sound nicely. I burrowed under the blanket into its comforting warmth and darkness. “Good Morning Ms...” which came from under the sheets with me. I was awake and all the way across the room in one long, adrenalin-laced leap from the bed. I looked back at the bed to see Megan/The Darkness sitting upon it.
“... Fatelli, it is nice to see you so awake and chipper this morning” the Darkness finished, and gave me a smile that would have melted butter if the eyes could have matched it. It made my skin crawl. Megan/Darkness got off the bed and sidled over to the desk, and seated it/herself in the near chair. “You had said we should talk on the morrow, so here we are. It is the morrow after all.” the Darkness smirked at me.
“I had hoped to get in some sleep before we talked. “ “You can't have everything Ms Fatelli, where would you put it?” “Very funny, now would you mind telling me what was all so important that when I said we would talk tomorrow, you had to show up two minutes past the hour?” The Darkness/Megan smiled again, and said “all is not what it seems, you should know how appearances deceive so thoroughly, Ms Fatelli.”
I about lost it. It comes here at two past midnight to spout cliche's? I itched to grab it and throw it out the window, minus Megan. “I can assure a complete situation of truth for you Ms Fatelli. We conclude our negotiations, Megan goes free, and I get you as a conduit, as we have tentatively developed as an agreement..” I glared at the creature. “I said no before, and say no again. The deal is not going to be made, so remove yourself and let me get some sleep.” Megan/Darkness smiled, showing teeth like a predator. “I shall go and we will visit again, later today, after you have had time to rest. I look forward to concluding our bargain.” Megan stepped into a shadow and melted away like a black mist. I tried to go back to sleep and saw Megan's terror every time I closed my eyes.

43

I called Larry to make sure he had enough time to gather materials and to coordinate the others. I thought about how much Cobb had wanted Larry doing the work, and now in way he'd conned me into getting him to sign on and help out. I know he'd do it as we're family, but I really started feeling guilty, and manipulated as I got further into the preparations. Larry needed to be cut out of the situation, before Cobb figured out how to manipulate us more for his ends.
Just how I was going to do this was the big question at the moment, and I spent most of the day trying to figure out exactly each of my and Cobb's steps in this little dance we were in. I was still trying to chart it on paper when Cobb knocked on the door. I was not going to take any chances, so I put some iron nails in my pocket and Iron filings around my desk to lessen the impact of any fae spells. Once I had finished, I walked over to the door and opened it and stepped back. Cobb entered and once past the threshold, he seemed to deflate slightly as his magick encountered the cold iron.
He saw the filings on the floor and stopped dead in his tracks in the outer office. I stepped into the room and turned towards him, I leaned back on the edge of my desk and put my hands on either side, my left near a pouch of filings and my right near a heavy paperweight that I could throw if need be. After the performance earlier today, I was in no mood to trust or forgive and forget. I may have to work with him, but I don't have to be nice or fake being polite any more.
“You're here, now what do you want to say before I tell you how this is going to work?” His face hardened, and his shoulders hunched over like he was getting ready to attack, and I moved my hand over to the pouch, ready to fling it in his face. He suddenly let go of the anger and stood there watching me. “I believe I said that I am sorry and that my actions would never happen again” he said to me, then he tried to give me a sincere, disarming smile, which only ended up looking to me like a sour grimace.
“Yes you did, but I don't trust you. I have to work with you, and I will to get the job done, but I don't have to like working with you or like you. So we work, we get this done, we go our separate ways.” I will have to say that he didn't get mad or pout like I expected. he considered the words and kept his temper in check. “Very well” he said at last. “I will listen to your directions and I will not have any rancor for you in this. I understand and accept.”
That went a lot better than I'd hoped it would, so one thing down. Th e next job was to make sure that Cobb was willing and able to create the effect we needed. The last was to ask him how he stopped the creature when it attacked the house. Cobb got evasive no this. “I will deal with it if it does show again. I promise you that, Ms Fatelli. The pain I gave it the last time will no doubt cause it to stay well away from any group I am with.”
“Maybe so”, I countered, “but you can't be everywhere at once.” He smiled. “I don't have to, I can glamour one or more of the other wizards with my countenance, that should convince the creature to stay clear. My skill can make sure that every nuance of myself is duplicated on another. The creature will not be able to tell the difference.” I didn't like the idea actually, but it did make sense, and if it worked that was great. “What if it does, how will the others defend themselves from it? You may be willing to put trust in an illusion, but I'm not. That creature is strong enough to rip someone in half, and I don't want anyone dying because we didn't think things through. Why all the secrecy?”
He pulled himself up and stood straight and stared at me. “Those matters are of the fae, and rest assured I will deal with the creature myself. If it should penetrate the glamour, I will confront it directly” he said in a tone that said I was not going to get another word out of him about it. I was upset, but figured I'd better let it go and then come back to it when we both weren't so irritated.
I told him when and where to meet us for a ride up to the bridge, but he refused saying that he would be there directly through the faery paths. So long as he was there on time, that's all that mattered. I used the spare time I had to go through telephone calls that had backed up and a little cleaning of my office. It was still dingy, and looked like a down-on-the-luck 1930's film noir of a private investigator's office, but it's a tasteful dingy.