An Angel’s Road to Hell

Cassandra Pendragon

“You don’t have to invite us,” I complained, even though without much fire. Mostly I was just fed up with mooching off of others and now that I finally had the funds to pay my own bills I actually wanted to start doing so.

“I know I don’t have to,” Serena retorted, “but I want to. If it makes you feel any better, consider it me making amends for my behaviour and, trust me, since they didn’t lose their cook, their cuisine can make up for pretty much anything.” I could hardly contradict her since I was still practically salivating from the hors d’oeuvre we had been offered. Cold, tiny slices of meat and vegetables wrapped in a variety of fragrant doughs, served with at least three different sauces each, some of them spicy enough that Ahri had been the only one to truly enjoy them. She had made up for it, though, by practically licking the bowls clean. A slight exaggeration, for sure, but every plate had still been empty despite the kitchen’s best efforts to have us filled up before the main course.

In case you haven’t figure it out, the “Silver Swan” was still up and running and we had made it here without much trouble. The tavern hadn’t gotten around a few… small changes, though. The numerous guards at the entrance, for example, and the not so hidden daggers each and every single one of the waiters wore. Aside from those rather martial improvements it still looked the same, at least if Serena and Alassara were to be trusted. I had never before had the pleasure of visiting and consequentially could hardly draw a comparison, but the food was excellent and so was the wine. Best of all, it actually worked. I hadn’t had any alcohol since my last transformation but as luck would have it, I could choose to disable my immunity to poison with the control I had gained. To be clear, I wasn’t indulging, I still had a long night ahead of me, but a glass or two I could deal with.

“It surely can,” Alassara chimed in, swirling a dark, almost blood red liquid around in her glass, “but I’m still not completely sure why we’re even here. Shouldn’t we be in the Garden? It’s past sundown and mostly everyone will have arrived by now. I think I even saw Arthur and a squadron of his soldiers on the way. As much as I enjoy spending time with you, is this really the moment?” Her eyes travelled along our illustrious group, catching on her daughter, who was whispering something in Reia’s ear, skipping Serena and her sister to finally come to rest on Ahri and me. “At leats the two of you should be there, shouldn’t you?” I shook my head and took another sip from my own goblet. Berries, vanilla, cinnamon and just a hint of saddle leather. Pretty similar to an old Bordeaux I had once tasted, even though the bottle had probably only cost a measly fraction of what I had payed back then.

Ahri took it upon herself to answer for the both of us, seeing as I was still occupied. “An hour won’t make much of a difference and Cassy and I… we’re not going to come with you, either way.” Eloquent and graceful, showcasing her years of experience, the vampire replied:

“Huh?” I had to swallow quickly, otherwise I might just have managed to flood the table with wine. Her round-eyed surprise was just a smidgen too much.

Chuckling, I explained: “long story short, it’s not the best idea for us to be around when the town decides on what to do. Everything we’d say would go unchallenged, most likely, which would probably result in resentment later on, and make the tasks at hand, especially when it comes to organising some form of leadership, much more difficult. You don’t need us to figure out how you want to govern yourselves, do you? Besides, there are a few other matters we have to attend to. That’s the main reason for this little get-together. I actually meant to wait until we had eaten but we can just as well get it over with now…” I didn’t intend to pause but a waiter was approaching us and the scent of the girl accompanying him I would have recognised anywhere, even over the myriad of smells wafting from the kitchen. Making their way past the handful of occupied tables and the elaborate stage, where a quartet of musicians, probably the ones the late Captain had tried to entice us with, did their best to entertain a handful of people who had seen their city bleed and suffer, a stunningly beautiful girl in her teens drew the eyes of everyone in the room, the flood of silvery tails behind her swinging like a hypnotising pendulum. Admittedly, it had been worse when Ahri and I had arrived, but taking into account she was actually an adolescent, I still felt… uneasy. Considering the looks of wonder, admiration and plain surprise, I hadn’t been far off the mark when I had compared her to Frankenstein’s monster. And she wasn’t even trying, the wide, dark, comfortable clothes she wore were something I’d have chosen myself and a far cry away from the gaudy getup I knew she was very much capable of putting together. Her long, silvery tresses were bundled together in a pony tail, that flowed past her lower back in a sparkling, silky wave and constituted the only piece of jewellery she actually wore.

If my mom was in any way aware of the commotion she was causing, she didn’t let it on, smiling brightly when she saw me staring. She waved and even winked, seemingly oblivious to the dropping jaws and moonstruck gazes she left in her wake.

“Would you mind if I joined,” she asked brightly, her voice… almost identical to my own. For Christ’s sake! If she could channel her powers like we could, she’d be a queen again in no time.

With a lopsided grin, ignoring the astonished expressions on Alassara’s and Serena’s faces, I replied: “would it make a difference if I said no?” The waiter was already pulling up a chair for her and she settled down elegantly, her years in court clearly showing.

“No, I don’t think it would.” She tossed back her hair, her smile becoming even wider, and added: “what do you think? I don’t believe I’ve ever looked like this, but I must say I do like it. Thanks a lot, hon, I didn’t know what to expect when I opened my eyes, but it wasn’t… this.”

“Neither did I, but I can’t say I’m surprised.” Sighing, I continued while I got to my feet: “everyone, I’m glad to finally introduce you to my mother, Helena, a nine tailed fox by nature and apparently my next headache in the making by choice.” I glided over to her chair and hugged her tightly, whispering: “It’s good to see you on two legs again. How are you doing?” She shrugged and returned the embrace, breathing into my ear:

“Much better, I didn’t know how much I missed my thumbs until I lost them. Thanks, Cassy. Even though… shouldn’t I be looking older than you? Was that on purpose?”

“No… but you are a child, at least in this body. How do you think I felt, when I came to as a toddler with the experience and memories of a being, more ancient than this world? If you can’t alter your age with your magic, you’ll just have to suck it up. Can you?”

“No, I can only change… my race, if you so will, but I always look like a youngling.”

“Race? Can you transform like Reia?” I felt her fluffy ears brush against my cheek.

“More or less. This body and the vixen you already know come pretty natural to me, for everything else I need time and quite a bit of energy. It works, though. I’ve already turned into a pigeon, once, and there was a rather unappetising scene when I inadvertently became a newt. Don’t ask.”

“Whispering is rude,” my little sister protested. “Especially if you’re talking too quietly for me to listen in.” Despite her words she was grinning and quickly got up to join us. “Welcome back… mom,” she said and kissed her cheeks.

Laughing at the two girls, who appeared around the same age, even though one was calling the other mom, I settled back down and reached for Ahri’s hand. At least I hadn’t fucked this up. More or less. “Are the others awake as well,” I wanted to know.

“No, they’re still out cold. Greta’s with them. She reckons they’ll need the night for their minds to get used to their new abilities. Apparently awakening your magic is quite taxing on the brain.” The waiter cleared his throat quietly, reminding me he was still there.

“Should I bring another set of cutlery,” he wanted to know.

“Please,” my mom immediately replied. “I’ll have the same as them, but no wine.” He bowed with a smile and scurried off, while the rest of our table was still entranced by her appearance. After a few moments Alassara finally brought herself to speak up:

“Allow me to congratulate you, you look absolutely stunning. I can’t help but wonder, though, are you still mad at me? I’ve never taken you lightly, but I have to admit, I wouldn’t want someone who can probably persuade my own blood to turn against me to run around harbouring a grudge. We’ve never really had a chance to make up and I’d like to know where we actually stand.”

My mother grinned, revealing, pointy, long canines. “I’ve cooled down considerably and you’ve done more than enough to make up for your mistake, if you can even call it that. The Mask didn’t act under your orders, did he? Back then… I was distraught. I’m not, not anymore. As far I’m concerned, I’d rather have you as a friend than anything else.” She extended her hand, her pleasure at the simple gesture radiating from her every pore. “What do you say?” The vampire didn’t think twice and when they shook I felt a sense of accomplishment I hadn’t earned. Still, our family slowly making friends, becoming a part of this place, was reason enough to celebrate.

“Are you sure you don’t want to enjoy even a single sip,” I muttered. “If there’s ever been a reason to touch glasses, you being finally able to hold one yourself again surely counts, doesn’t it?”

“And the bottle would even be on the house,” a new voice interjected, as a well dressed, middle aged man stepped up to our table. His whole demeanour, not to mention the penguinesque ensemble of black and white he wore, just screamed management and if that hadn’t been enough, the expensive bottle he cradle in his arms would have been a dead giveaway. So was the name tag. “Lavian, head waiter,” it read in the Common Tongue.

“How ever did we earn such treatment,” Ahri asked cautiously, thinking along the same lines as me. Gifts usually came with the steepest price tag.

“Saving the city, granting us your patronage… and possibly your protection,” he replied smoothly.

With a flourishing gesture he filled a set of fresh glasses, one of his colleagues had brought, and even offered half a mouthful to the minors, who, after Alassara and I had nodded, promptly took the chance and after a split second’s hesitation, so did my mom. While I raised the wine to my nose and savoured the heavy, aged smell, I realised that the tavern had emptied out, the guests probably heading to the gathering I had called for and intended to skip entirely. Only the staff and the minstrels remained, all of them trying their best and failing pitifully at listening in inconspicuously.

“Two of those have already happened, the third is still in the future,” Ahri continued, after she had raised her glass in thanks. “Am I to assume this is a bribe?”

“That would be a grossly inadequate gesture. No, the wine is for what you’ve done and I’m here for what might yet happen. It shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that the death of Lady Kirena has left us… struggling like a fish on dry land. Half the staff hasn’t turned up for work and those who have come can’t help but wonder what’s going to happen tomorrow or the day after. We were… safe, more or less, but without her it’s only a question of time until someone waltzes in here and claims this place as their own. If it was up to me, I’d rather have one of you to answer to than an unpleasant, upstart mercenary who gropes the servers and tries to press as much coin out of this place as he possibly can before our reputation is entirely ruined. I know how busy you must be, especially tonight, but since you took the time to come here, I thought I’d give it a try.”

“Are you speaking for everyone working here,” my mom interjected. He blinked, surprised at her authoritarian tone, which just didn’t fit her youthful features.

“More or less. Kirena never had slaves working here, but, as I said, some of the girls and a handful of gardeners and waiters never showed up. The rest… well, someone has to make decisions and I’ve been working here for the longest, by far. We’ve talked about this, though, when we saw you arrive. I… would you mind if I spoke freely?” Serena, Alassara and I all shook our heads.

“This place… it’s a gold mine. Kirena has always done her best to prevent rumours from spreading but she was making more than fortune around here. As an example, the girls she had working the tables, if they knew what they were doing, would rake in about a gold in tips alone. Now, the business side of things we’ve covered… we might need to replace a few staff members but over all we can simply keep going. In case we don’t run out of gold to buy ingredients and make repairs before the end of the month, that is. What we can’t do ourselves is provide the necessary safety, for us as well as our customers. I mean, look at us. None of us has ever swung a weapon before, those daggers are just for show, and the few mercenaries we hired over night to guard the door are about as likely to rob us blind as they are to do what they’ve been paid for. We need someone with enough power to discourage anyone from even trying, which brings us to why I’m here. If one of you, anyone really, would allow us to use their name, most of our problems would simply vanish. I mean… who’d be dumb enough to challenge the Queen of the Night, the Golden Lady or the mages who kept us alive and breathing, despite the appearance of a devil?”

“More than you’d think,” I retorted, but immediately added: “but I know what you mean. As far as I’m concerned you’re very welcome to toss my name around. As long as you don’t expect me to actually follow through, it won’t even cost you.” As if on cue my mom cleared her throat and frowned, urging me to shut up wordlessly. Fine, whatever, she could just as well have her fun, but if she was going to negotiate, she’d better make sure to provided what she’d promise all by herself, because I wasn’t going to waste my time playing the bouncer or backer for a tavern.

“What my dau…” she hesitated, the preposterous claim that I might be her kid withering in her throat when she saw the perplexed expression on dear Lavian’s face. More neutrally she continued: “what Cassandra is trying to say is, there’s not much point in pretending, even though you’re of course welcome to try. For your plan to have any chance of success someone would have to be here, from time to time, if only to keep up appearances. Now… that might be possible, but it surely is time consuming and warrants a bit of…”

“And warrants a share is what you meant to say, isn’t it,” he finished her sentence. “Don’t worry, like I said, we’ve talked about it when we saw your group enter. Kirena payed us wages, but we’d rather not go back to how things have been. She’s built this place up from the barren ground and has poured more gold into it than I can even imagine. It wouldn’t be the same with you, but we’d be prepared to part with a tenth of what we earn, excluding tips, of course.” I barely managed to suppress an appreciative whistle. If what he had said was true, that would still amount to a small fortune in no time. My mom, though, didn’t share my views.

“Isn’t half or a third customary,” she asked innocently, ignoring his questioning looks, thrown Alassara’s and my way, when he realised that he was negotiating with a child. “Don’t worry, I don’t intend to take as much, but two tenths don’t seem overly greedy to me, especially since you apparently can’t keep this place running smoothly without our help.”