Chapter 35

The office reforms went to plan. Those who no longer wished to work under Morgana simply refused to allow a full mind-scan and were allowed to resign, a good few moving to the Interrogation Office, whilst others were taken on by various Bureaus or simply vanished.

My audit uncovered several anomalies in the way the office worked and both Róisín and I, with Morgana's permission, resolved them as well as getting several new members fixed on the task of making sure that the Council was protected both defensively and out in the wider world proactively.

Arch and I were set loose upon the world to track down an unauthorised use of magic in Italy which had happened during the Irpinia region earthquake. Our investigation was into the various reports (quashed by the mundane government and media) that, from the nearly 3,000 dead, some had risen. Roxanne's people had done some initial investigatory work but could not trace the source, or rather their team had been ambushed when searching for it. This had raised several flags within the Council and Morgana had been asked to place some of her team alongside the Department of Investigative Studies' team in order to add our 'wisdom' to theirs.

We caught up with the team in the town of Sant'Angelo dei Lombardi where, of the 300 reported dead, there were disturbing reports of encounters with returned deceased, including an attack on the investigating team.

"Mage Hengist, journeyman Pierre," Arch greeted the investigation team. "Glad to see you're still in one piece."

"As are we," replied Hengist after greeting us in return. "Damned things whatever they were, are highly magically protected and definitely don't fit into the sphere of necromancy or other forms of homunculi. Nor do they resemble what's known of the capabilities of the Nephilim or Sidhe."

"What of the mundanes?" Arch asked.

"The original death toll was two hundred or thereabouts; there have been over fifty other deaths related to this ... outbreak," Hengist replied. "The only reason Pierre and I are alive is due to the fact he still had a Null medallion you gave him, John, which killed the ... whatever it was, but shorted the medallion too."

"Can we see the body of whatever it was?" I asked.

"It's in the barn," Pierre replied.

We all walked into the barn to examine what at first appeared to be a well burned if ordinary corpse.

"Not human, though superficially similar," muttered Arch as he scanned the body.

"Yes, similar in appearance to one of the known dead," answered Hengist. "But I'm damned if I know what the hell it is as it simply ignored all the spells I could launch at it, didn't absorb them, simply ignored them."

"Not a Lich either then," I posited.

"No John, I read your report on that and this differed in almost every aspect," Hengist replied. "They don't use magic for one, though have incredible strength, they aren't your slow shambling zombie either, but seemingly alert and intelligent. They are magically driven though, hence Pierre's successful use of the Null medallion to stop it."

"Draugr or revenant most likely," opined Arch. "Haven't had a plague of them since the crusades though."

"Call in the theurgists of the Vatican?" Hengist asked.

"Might need them to come in and lay the vengeful spirits to rest, but we need to deal with the undead first and find the source of the spiritual contamination," Arch replied.

"Won't be a necromancer," said Hengist.

"No, more likely a thaumaturge," sighed Arch.

"That could have repercussions if a higher power gets involved," I interjected.

"They won't, it's a bit complex but the use of the power is fine if the right invocation is used, but the power themselves won't interfere personally against an attacker. That's not to say the user can't use the invocations to defend themselves though," Arch explained.

"That's a relief," Pierre murmured.

"Still will be tricky, thaumaturgy or theurgy can't be detected by the Seers and the users seem like ordinary mundanes to us, assuming we can even detect them depending on their source," Arch replied.

"This one has real talent too, there's a lot of them to deal with," Hengist mused.

"We'll have to look for the epicentre, their control only goes so far and the creatures are territorial," Arch explained. "Now have you a reference to the attacks by location?"

"They're centred around the holding area where the bodies were put when the rescue services arrived," Hengist replied. "The emergency services are being fooled into believing they are here but several of the Department are protecting them whilst clouding their thoughts."

"Let's go hunting then," Arch decided. "Uh oh, seems we have company."

We all turned as a small car pulled up and four black clad priests emerged from it, and I could not detect any of their thoughts.

"Mages! I might have known," One of them spoke loudly with contemptuous tones.

"Well if it isn't the Vatican's storm-troopers," Arch retorted. "Late as usual."

"Good to see you too, Mage Arch," another priest added with a grin.

"And you Father Antonelli. We suspect we'll have need of your exorcist at least," Arch greeted the priest with a broad smile.

"What do you believe we have?" Father Antonelli asked once some introductions had been made of Father Bryce, Father Franco and Father LeFarge.

"Revenants," Arch replied.

"After so long?" Antonelli replied frowning.

"It's not like it's hidden knowledge," Arch acknowledged. "Whoever is doing it is quite powerful and seems to have a good demonic source to tap into."

"Father Antonelli why are you even talking to these atheistic heretics?" came the disdainful tones of the priest introduced as Father Bryce and who'd originally spoken.

"Because, Father Bryce, I've known Mage Arch for roughly 700 years and never known him to interfere with our mission as God's arbiters of justice against the satanic horde. Chances are he's met more Angels than you have," Antonelli replied.

"But the Holy Father..." began Father Bryce.

"Will not even acknowledge we exist, never mind admit that the world is a lot more dangerous than the average believer would care to dream of," Antonelli broke in. "Besides, Arch is as human as you or I. He just knows a few more tricks, is all."

"Good tricks though," Arch chuckled.

"Indeed," Antonelli chuckled right back.

"It will certainly help to have Mages around to watch our backs," said the priest introduced as Father Franco.

"Indeed, thaumaturges don't usually work without backup in human form," Antonelli replied.

"But..." began Father Bryce.

"Silence. My decision is final and despite your favour in the eyes of one of the host, you still are far too wet behind the ears with regards to how our fallen world really works," Antonelli admonished.

"We'd best begin at the temporary mortuary," Hengist announced. "That's where Pierre and I were nearly handed our heads.

We walked through the ruins of the village in silence towards where a large area had been covered in canvas. For all it was deathly quiet, I still had a feeling that we were being watched, though could detect no one save the Mages around me, I could not, other than the sounds of their footsteps, detect the priests either.

"How can they be undetectable Arch?" I asked pointing to the priests.

"They're favoured of some higher power or other on the side of God. It means normal rules don't apply to them, including bombs, bullets and magic," Arch replied.

"Interesting," I said.

"Antonelli's OK. But constrained by certain rules. Just be careful of the others. They aren't obliged to be nice to us," Arch warned.

"Or vice versa?" I asked.

"John, you'd be placing yourself in grave danger if these guys decide you're in their way. We don't mess with higher powers or their agents if we can possibly avoid it," Arch spoke firmly.

"So why haven't they tried to remove us as Mages as we sort of occupy an area that they do not approve of?" I asked.

"The sixth commandment John, Thou shalt not kill," came the voice of Father Antonelli. "Or rather commit murder."

"What about not suffering a witch to live?" I asked.

"The term used in Hebrew is m'khashepah which means one using magic to harm others, in other words an evil sorceress. Mages aren't in that category, male or female ... generally," Antonelli replied. "A thaumaturge, however, is."

"Which is why the Council has an accord with the Vatican and a few other protestant groups to leave each other alone," said Arch. "Mostly it works well, but we run into the occasional problem with those new to Theurgy who believe Mages are of the devil."