Shattered Pentacle

“That could be simple...” Reagan said, leaning towards the vampire. “We could find almost anyone. We need a name, a photo, maybe something they owned. Some hair or fingernails or blood would be great too.”

“The last one we can do,” Volita said. “Her name is Jaqueline Kessler. I sent her to do something, and I haven’t heard back from her in a very long time. But I know her kind well enough to know they don’t die easily. I’d like to help her, but I can’t do that if I can’t find her.”

Lyra looked back towards Reagan.

“She’s telling the truth,” Reagan thought. “Or if she’s hiding, she’s way better at this than I am.”

“I’ll have those other things brought,” Volita went on. “But I would need more than just telling me where she is. I already have a feeling it’s... not the kind of place I’d like to go. Bring her back safe, and you’ll have my help. If you can’t...” She shrugged. “Guess you don’t.”

They finalized details in the next few minutes. Someone brought a little styrofoam cooler from the house, along with a few photos. The pictures showed a relatively ordinary young woman with blue hair.

Rainbow took them back to the empty mall when they were finished and dropped them more or less where they’d first met.

“Good luck finding her,” she said, waving them out of the limousine. “Never met a mortal who could get into as much trouble as that girl. If she even counts. Mortals don’t come back when they die.”

She snapped the door shut, then rolled down the window. “Bring her here when you find her, then call me.” She stuck a paper card through the window, printed with the digits of a number. “Don’t go directly to the estate. You have no idea what was watching you while you visited. Try not to die.”

The limo sped off into the night, leaving the two of them alone on the curb. Lyra kept the cooler under one arm, the photos tucked into her pockets. She was the one to watch Reagan’s back while she found a quiet place to prepare another teleport.

The sun wasn’t up yet, though a faint orange glow on the horizon promised it soon would be. “We’ll go straight to the Sanctum,” she said. “Once I find her, we can figure out who will go as a group.”

Soon they were back in the library, with an annoyed Capper brushing his head repeatedly into Lyra’s leg. Until she bent down and gave him the attention he deserved, of course.

“I could’ve followed you,” the familiar said. “But you already have enough trouble with vampires. Better if you don’t have to protect me.”

She nodded her agreement, running one hand through the familiar’s soft fur for another few seconds before following Reagan to their magical workspace. She handed over the photos, then got out of her way while she worked the ritual magic.

Her friends were still better at this than she was. Rituals could take her hours to get right, like the one still tucked away in her pocket. Reagan, by contrast, could do the same in one. Akiko only needed a few minutes.

Starlight appeared from another room, slipping through the Hallow’s glass door to nudge Lyra’s shoulder. “You’re back. Did they bleed you?”

“No,” Lyra whispered back. “Just want our help finding someone. Reagan’s already working on the spell.”

“Are we sure the one we find isn’t gonna be...” She drew a few fingers over her neck. “I wouldn’t trade artifacts for helping them kill someone. Even Twilight wouldn’t.”

“Said they were on the same side,” she answered. “And if she was lying... we’ll find out when we find the girl. We just don’t bring her back with us.”

Starlight folded her arms, settling back to watch the ritual. “Right. Sounds like they made it easy. Expected vampires to make it harder.”

“Could’ve gotten violent a few times. But Reagan and I managed. Our contact was gonna have to put down a pet, but I saved the animal, and suddenly she was really helpful. I don’t know if she would’ve let us leave otherwise.”

Starlight looked between her and the laboring Reagan, thoughtful. Tabitha appeared on the other side of the glass, though all she did was wave. No sign of her little sister today. Lyra looked but didn’t find Bonnie there either.

She’s probably just asleep. I wouldn’t want to be up at five AM either.

Except, thanks to her own mastery of Life, Lyra could use a little magic to skip past her debts. The spell got a little harder each day in a row she used it, pushing against resistance from her body and mind. Unless Reagan didn’t think she’d be needed for the trip, she would probably cast it again soon.

Reagan finished her spell a few seconds later. Her candles all went out with a burst of chill wind, leaving her face suddenly pale and haunted.

She packed away her tools, put the candles back on the shelf, then made her way over. She waved Tabitha in.

“What’s the matter?” Tabitha asked. “You looked fairly engrossed in your magical efforts. I didn’t wish to disturb you.”

Reagan explained the same details Lyra gave Starlight, albeit more gracefully, before continuing. “I need you to help me test a theory. Shouldn’t be dangerous, but pack supplies.”

“Will you need us?” Starlight asked. “Lyra looks like she’s about to collapse.”

Lyra asked a very different question. “Your tracking spell didn’t work?”

“It worked. She’s not here. Not in Canterlot, not anywhere in the Material.” She made a vague gesture with one hand, half signing the mudra sometimes used to represent that concept in magic. “Tabitha, can you help me poke around in the Underworld? I have a hunch.”

Tabitha cleared her throat. “I, uh... yes, I suppose. You should know, I’m ill-suited to travel through that awful place. I’m more of an alchemist than a necromancer.”

“I know. I just need someone to hold the door open for me while I cast this spell again. On that side.” She patted Lyra’s shoulder. “Rest. Probably won’t need you. Not much is alive down there.”

“Except us,” Lyra said. “And... the girl we’re looking for? Can’t find her if she’s dead already. Unless that’s a thing we can do now.”

“Ghosts, sometimes,” Tabitha said. “But she could be alive. Or... not quite dead. There are a number of vampires down there. More than one might think. I’ll warn my sister I could be gone for the next few days.”

The two made their way out. Reagan lingered long enough to clasp Lyra’s shoulder. “Good work out there, Lyra. That was a risky move with her pet—how’d you know it was safe?”

She shrugged. “I know vampires are rich, but she had whole buildings for her animals, with enough space to really roam around. I could tell she cared about them.”

Whether she was capable of extending that compassion towards humans, Lyra still didn’t know. The whole meeting could be manipulation, leading them down paths she couldn’t even see to prevent.

“That’s good.” Reagan let go. “We have to see them as more than bloodthirsty monsters. They are those things. They drank blood right in front of us. But if we assume that’s all they are, we’ll never be able to fight them. They’re as complicated as mages. Maybe more, since they live so much longer. I don’t know about her bodyguard, but Volita was old. Probably the oldest person any of us ever met.”

Capper laughed, that usual cat sound he sometimes made when something captured his attention. None of Lyra’s friends looked his way, but she heard.

Starlight lingered with her for a few moments more. “Reagan wouldn’t keep this going if she didn’t think the vampire would keep her word. But what about you? You’ve met them before, haven’t you? Do you think it’s worth the risk?”

“I don’t want it to be,” she said. “But these two seemed... reasonable. When I served them, I watched mine kill people for way less than what we said. Maybe the mansion had all kinds of horrible things... but the rest seemed clean.”

Starlight shrugged. “Most people tend to be, when you’re doing what they want. Real question is what they do when you make them angry. What happens when we’re on different sides? Like there’s the whole... drinking blood thing. Are they murdering people, or taking it carefully enough that no one is seriously hurt? That seems important. I don’t want to be friends with a killer.”

Lyra stayed in the Hallow after that. She was too tired to do more than settle into a recliner, letting the warmth of the comfortable space and its plentiful mana radiate over her body.

Her familiar hopped up onto the seat, balancing delicately on the armrest as he approached her. “Make room,” he said. “Or go upstairs. This isn’t good enough.”

Going upstairs seemed like so much work. Bonnie was already mad, maybe she needed the space too.

It wasn’t even a spell anymore, not exactly. Capper called it something else, a kind of magic that came with a permanently shaped soul. She no longer spent mana on the effort, or risked paradox. Lyra was still human, but she didn’t have to look like it all the time.

A cat wiggled her way out of Lyra’s shirt a few seconds later, curling up in the warmest corner of her seat. Cats didn’t have to feel self-conscious about where they slept, or what their girlfriends would think about talking to vampires.

Normally Capper would curl up beside her, and she could wake up feeling much better a while later. Today, though—he lingered on the seat, eyes narrowing.

“Something’s still bothering you,” he mewed.

“A lot.” She stretched all the way out, leaning her head over the edge. “I knew magic made things complicated, but not like this. Vampires are always evil, right? They don’t even have souls anymore. Killing them is always the right thing to do.”

Capper hopped down to her level. “Vampires don’t choose to become what they are. They were all human once—before someone found them, Embraced them. Sometimes that was a reward for service, sometimes a punishment, sometimes because they were a favored pet, and their admirer didn’t want to see them wilt with age.”

He licked her ear, then flopped sideways against the seat. “I know what you want to hear. But we’ve had this conversation before. We don’t tell lies just because they’re easier. The truth—some of them are monsters. Some hate what they are and want to be better. Most are somewhere in the middle. They’re all parasites, but it’s up to them what they do with that.

“Just like you. The Seers of the Throne have more mages in some cities than the rest of the Pentacle combined. It’s easy to think of yourself as the rightful rulers of the world. Easy to justify your position because the masses don’t have powers like you. They’re weak, and you’re strong. Why shouldn’t you rule? Mages might not drink blood, but you can do worse to humans if you want to.”

“I don’t,” she whispered, closing her eyes shut. This was supposed to be relaxing, supposed to be a place to hide and sleep. Why wouldn’t he let her rest?

“I know that, or I wouldn’t be here. Now you need to make the same decision about your new allies. Between when you find that missing person and deliver her—you have a choice to make.”