Chapter 9

Now.

My first stop after leaving my apartment is Murray's, if something is going on in my city he is bond to know about it, the problem is Murray's forays into the supernatural have left him ecentric at best.

I open the door to the antique shop, I instantly get the sense of power pushing back, it tingles across my skin as I push further into his shop. Magic doesn't like me, I have never figured it out but for some reason the powers involved are simply a bad match with me.

"Murray you in?" I shout into the back room, where I can see stacks of ancient books, I hear a crash followed by a serious of curses.

Murray stumbles out the back, he is short, hunched over with age, he has a long white beard, stereotypical wizard if you ask me, all that was missing was the robe and hat. Which Murray has, he only wears them on special occasions, he spots me and frowns.

"What the fuck do you want abomination." She says with a grown in his voice.

"Come now thats not what your daughter calls me." I say.

"Yeah well Morgan has the curse of the young, stupid and thinks with her crotch." he says.

"Come now Murray is that anyway to talk about your own daughter? Besides Id hardly call 300 young" I say.

He shakes his head.

"Shes my daughter, Ill talk about her as I see fit, and to you Idin thats practically still in the womb, what do you want Idin." He says

"Murray I need your help, The sons of Cain are in town." I say

He looks me over for a second, I know Murray, he hasn't changed in the 700 years I've know him, and the only point of contention between us is that he has never figured out what I am.

"Its serious boy?" He says.

I nod.

"The sons of cain have Sharon." I say.

"Well they gona eat her or turn her, so thats that." Murray says.

"Murray I need to know where they are nesting." I say.

"Check the morgues, they are not to bright they will feed near their nest" He says.

"Murray I was thinking more along the lines of Thaumaturgy." I say.

He laughs.

"Kid you know you and magic don't mix" He says.

"I meant you do it for me." I say.

He frowns at me.

"This aint my fight kid, I don't get involved in these things anymore, not since Artie." He says.

"I Know Murray but they have my Daughter." I say.

He frowns.

"Which one, the Vampire?" He says.

I sigh and shake my head, Murray forgets things, she is long since dead.

"No the human." I say.

"Oh oh right, the cop." Murray says.

"Wait they took a cop? What the hell are they thinking Idin?" He says pacing back and forth.

"I know Murray its all out of character with them." I say.

"Look kid, you know I don't meddle, but Ill do this, Ill give you a charm, you get with in a mile of her it will point you in the right direction. You get captured and you better eat it, I didn't help you." He says.

"Thank you Murray, say hows the old bird of yours?" I ask.

He grumbles as he starts pulling supplies out of cupboards.

"Cranky as ever, he hates the city, I don't let him out much anymore, I think hes getting senile." He says.

I laugh.

"Says the pot to the kettle." I say

"Morgan's been asking about you Idin, last time she was in wanted to know how you were, you should call her." He says.

Moran's was Murray daughter, she followed in her fathers foot steps, the old arts.

"Really how shes doing?" I ask.

"Shes getting a Divorce." He says working away with some herbs.

"Thats a shame." I say.

"I tell her shes human she just can't pass for one with the slowed aging, she looks 28 her husband looks 60, people ask questions." He says.

"Why doesn't she use a glamor? Make her self look old." I Ask.

"Because shes damn stubborn, like her mother." Murray says

I nodded I had met Murray's wife on the battlefield, at the time I had been in full armor, she ended up blasting me with dragons fire and pinning me to a rock with her sword. Murray had to get my ass out of that tin can, ever since then I prefer to fight with out armor.

"Yeah so she figures her kids are grown might as well move on." He says.

"Any of them have the talent?" I ask.

"Thankfully no." He says.

"Hey you have something of hers right?" He ask.

I pull out her gun and hand it to him, he whistles and shakes his head.

"Idin you know the charm takes on the aspects of the ingredients, you could of brought something less aggressive." He says taking the gun.

"Yeah short notice and all that." I say.

"I am going to try some Voodoo, been wanting to try some of that out, nows as good as time as any." He says half to himself.

"Murray I don't have time for experiments, besides I thought you said you would never use moors magic." I say

"Eh that was along time ago Idin, times changes, Im not as racist as I used to be." He says.

"Really? Well as long as you are sure it will work." I say.

He grunts and gets back to work.

"Idin go to the front of the store, I dont want what ever bad juju you got messing with my casting." He says.

I nod and head to the front of the store, I hear a bird squawk in pain, I glance back wondering what he is doing but then something on the wall draws my attention, holy crap, in a secured case is The Sword, what was Murray thinking putting it out there, I see a flash from his room and he calls me back.

"Murray what the hell is the sword doing out there?" I ask.

He laughs.

"Your paranoid Idin, only he who is meant to have it can take it." He says.

"I can take it." I say bluntly.

"Yeah and good thing your the only abomination out there that can, its meant for humans and you know it, thats why I have it." He says.

I nod looking back.

"Still it could come in handy." I say.

"You ever handle a divine sword?" Murray ask.

"Liliths" I say.

"Ah of course I forgot." Murray says.

I Nod.

"All done, like I said get it near and it will glow, Oh and you owe Archimedes something for those feathers." He says.

He holds up Sharon's gun wrapped in some kind of twine, I see several feathers wrapped around it...

"Thank you Merlin." I say taking the gun, we both flinch waiting for it to explode at my touch, when it doesn't Murray nods self satisfied.

Then.

It had been several months since Jora was turned, she is well enough now to hunt on her own, all reports seem to indicate that she is doing well. We spend the days together most of the time, she is almost back to her old self if a little guarded.

"It was a small village like ours Idin, they had the sickness like me." She said.

I nodded, I was still working on an attempt to cure the illness, we were outside at my new lab, we still had a few hours before dawn.

"Thats why I still work Jora, to find a cure." I said.

"Idin, it was strange, there were several children there, like the one I lost." She said.

"I am sorry Jora." I said.

I see her look up at the stars, she is weaker than all the daughters, but still considerably strong, Amrita said she did notice she was much more ruthless in the hunt, she still looked like my Jora though.

"I fed on them Idin." She said.

I nod.

"They were ill Jora." I said.

"I know Idin, the thing is I enjoyed it, I took pleasure in it." She said.

"Jora I ... I am sorry." I said.

She shakes her head.

"Don't be Idin, I am trying to feel sad for them, but I don't, I feel nothing for their deaths, if I had the chance I would do it again." She said.

I look from my plants to watch her.

She sees me looking at her and smiles like everything is perfectly normal.

"Its almost time to go in Idin, How much longer will you be?" She ask.

"A little while Jora." I say.

She smiles, she comes and kisses me on the lips, I feel her fangs prick my lips, she seems almost disappointed that I do not bleed, she turns and walks back toward the caves. I am deeply disturbed. I hear giggling coming through the woods, I look up in time to see Enore and Amrita coming through the brush, Amrita is giving Enore a Piggyback ride, they both see me and stop.

"Hows it going Idin?" Amrita said putting Enore down.

"Not much progress, although I think I have isolated the bacteria, I am having problems growing in any large quantity." I Said.

"what about the mead that some of the tribes make? They use yeast and barley, Amrita says that fungus can grow from that." Enore said.

I nod.

"Perhaps I will go to one of the tribes today to trade for some." I say.

During the day I have been trading with the local tribes and acting as a sort of Medicine man, helping where I can, and when I can't the Daughters come to finish the job, it is a process I am not entirely comfortable with.

"Idin Mother said she has something to show you today." Amrita said.

I nod.

"Ill head in as soon as I am done here, Amrita do me a favor and don't leave Enore alone in the caves." I say

Enore looks at me confused but Amrita nods, the look in her eye tells me she knows exactly what I mean, they both head in, recently they have been sharing a room, I figure I am not really her father and they both are just children exploring.

I finish up by sealing off the vats in the ground, covering them with large boulders, I wash the stench of the fermentation off of me in the lake by the water fall, I can see the start of the sun rise through the mist, I am startled by a splash, I look over to see Lilith's head pop out of the water.