NOVEL NEXT ~1~
Roughly a week later.
London and the rest of the world, Lady Memento, the only person who could handle such a multinational threat of the Third Revelation, was arrested by the authorities and outed by the public. Rumblings about magical females fighting along with military outfits were inconclusive. And, of course, there was the Stygian Society, who were now at a standoff with the Royal Order of the Black Wing.
The Stygian Society’s primary objective is to serve and protect the Royal Order of the Black Wing. This bloodline traces back from the first generations of black-winged diaras like Lucifel. Stygian Society is a collective group of Daemon Knights broken off into smaller groups and commanded by their sovereigns.
They usually work in the shadows and protect the royal bloodline first, yet they protect everyone else who is not. Most even work with law enforcement or a part of law enforcement.
Despite their daemonic heritage, the Stygian Society is a virtuous group of nephalems. With the Stygian Society, it was about business and the principle of the matter: to maintain the balance by any means necessary.
Their headquarters in London was near the city’s heart as they rented out a four-story building that stationed 170 people, all of whom were Daemon Knights working on the impending crisis.
One Daemon Knight was working diligently. Wearing her issued Daemon Knight uniform, she was about 5 ½ feet tall and had a slender hourglass figure. You would never know since she always wore baggy clothing or her uniform. She always wore her long black hair that came down to her back in a fashionable bun. She had green eyes but always wore glasses due to her poor eyesight.
She walked into the office with purpose as she stood outside the door that read ‘Administrator Susanoo Halberstam’ who around this time didn't work underneath a daemonic monarch as she was a part of the separation between both parties. Susanoo was considered to be a Ronin.
Even though she was a Ronin, she had an excellent record of completing S-ranked missions. On the flip side, she had a bad reputation for not working well with others and defying regal authority.
Marco heard a female voice with two knocks on the door, “Come on in, Miss Bennett!” Immediately, she went into the office and closed the door behind her.
Marco and Susanoo shook hands as they sat down. Susanoo still had her signature blood-red eyes, but her black hair with caramel brown and blonde peekaboo highlights was shorter than usual.
"So glad to see you here, Miss Bennett. And if you were three hours early today. Impressive!" Susanoo praised with a cute smile.
But Marco knew better; underneath that cute smile was a cold and ruthless individual. Still, she played it off as she was completely nervous underneath, "Thank you, Arcana."
"You don't have to call me that. Just call me Miss Halberstam." Susanoo insisted while she took her attention, reading off Marco’s resume. “I see you completed your training last year while attending Oxford for your undergrad degree and traveling abroad to Harvard in the United States. Earning a master's degree in cultural anthropology and a bachelor's in demonology. You are well-versed in dark arts and chaos magic. According to our evaluations, you are ranked 'A' in both." She then paid her attention to Marco as she smiled again. “Very impressive.”
“Thank you, Miss Halberstam,” Marco obliged.
"With many accolades and recommendations. I do believe that your days of being a scout are officially over. That is why we are giving you your post." Susanoo announced with a smile.
Marco's eyes lit up as she almost cried upon hearing the good news, "thank you, Miss Halberstam! Thank you!"
“In Lancashire...” Susanoo mumbled under her breath.
“I’m sorry?” Marco wondered.
Knowing she had to repeat herself, she sighed deeply, “You’re going to be posted in Lancashire.”
This confused Marco, "But that's in the country. And my hometown."
“Yes, so you don’t have to worry about living far away from home anymore!” Susanoo said with a reassuring smile.
Then Marco’s worst fears crept into her mind, “Are you sending me home in the lowest of keys!”
“No, we are not.” Susanoo defended.
“Then can I stay here in London?” Marco suggested.
“Many scouts are coming in, and we have to cycle the ones who are ready,” Susanoo quickly answered.
“In other words, you want to get rid of me! Why?!” Marco accused.
“But you said you wanted to go back to Lancashire,” Susanoo reminded when she read off her paper or pretended to, “Didn’t you say, ‘I would love to go back to my hometown and have a family, especially with a man like you, Dante!’” Susanoo said with a smirk.
Marco should have never trusted Susanoo. Even when what she said was out of context, Susanoo took that as a serious threat to her pursuing a relationship with a man she barely knew and only met once. This was indeed an abuse of power.
“I guess I’m going to have to go above you...” Marco bellows.
"Well, if you're going to go above me, then I have no choice. Do I? But I'll call him myself!" Susanoo picked up the phone and dialed three numbers in random order. In reality, the phone was off. But it was a queue for the Executive Administrator to come in. Then, a tall tiger kemonomimi with long red hair and green eyes came in. Marco was stunned that she came in so quickly; unbeknownst to her, it was a setup.
Out of courtesy, Marco shook the Tiger girl’s hand, “Miss Cynthia Devorah!”
Just like Susanoo, she was a ronin as well. However, she valued her college education more than serving a monarch, earning many degrees.
"This is the great Marco Bennett that everyone's been talking about. Right, Susanoo?" Cynthia fibbed.
“Earning a master’s degree in cultural anthropology and a bachelor's in demonology,” Susanoo said with a condescending smile.
Cynthia then sat down next to Susanoo, “It brings my attention that you don’t want to leave London,” Cynthia explained.
“No, I don’t!” Marco denies.
"However, many others like yourself are in London, and we don't have any room for openings..." Cynthia said with a sad smile. "But at least you'll be closer to home and friends."
“I wish I had a job like that with no pressure!” Susanoo patronizes.
What a scowl on her face; she stared directly at her nemesis, “Yeah, no pressure...”
"So, you will be leaving in the next two days. We will let the mayor know about your arrival. Who knows? There might be a homecoming party waiting for you," Susanoo said with a smile.
However, Marco continued to stare directly at Susanoo but with a scowl.
Susanoo reached for the phone, pretending to be frightened, “do you want me to call him?”
“Go ahead, call him!” Marco challenged.
"You want me to call him? The squad leader?" Susanoo warned, slowly reaching for the phone.
“I intend to stutter, Susanoo, but I didn’t this time...” Marco insisted.
This received an eye roll as the façade was up, “She made us, Daddy!”
Then, the squad leader immediately entered the room, but Marco was too angry to shake his hand. Yet the squad leader knew her anger and frustration, so he understood.
The squad leader looked a lot like her daughter, Susanoo, with red eyes in the same hair color. Yet, he was older. Susanoo gave up her seat as the squad leader sat down.
“Imperial Knight Morpheus,” Marco stoically greeted.
Morpheus nodded, "Miss Bennett. I've heard a lot about you--"
“Earning a master’s degree in cultural anthropology and a bachelor's in demonology,” Susanoo said.
“Yes, yes, indeed...” Morpheus blew off. “You must realize, Miss Bennett, that the two behind me did not sign off on you returning to your hometown in Lancashire. I did it. And I know what you're thinking: I'm falling on the sword for my... Jealous and territorial daughter, but I'm not. Miss Bennett, I don't think you are what you say you are. You being an wicca,” Morpheus explained.
This threw Marco into a loop while she tried to defend herself, “I don’t understand... I passed every test that you gave me--!”
“Humans tend to pass these tests, Miss Bennett,” Cynthia chimes in.
“That doesn’t make you a nephalem or witch,” Susanoo chimes in.
"We find many 'pretenders' who want to be a part of the Stygian Society. You need to find out how many run-of-the-mill humans are sensitive to aethereal energy. It is rather impressive. But for you to say that you have the heritage of a wicca is rather upsetting. Suppose you are then shown no characteristics of a ‘wiccan.’ And about your shift, you are past due to have one as the female wiccan has their shifts under age 15. You turned 23 yesterday." Morpheus points out.
Mortified by this exile, Marco decided to defend herself, “I am sorry to offend you, sir, but you’re making a big mistake mocking me...”
Morpheus scoffed at the idea, “No offense at all, and there was no mistake to be made.”
“I know one thing about the camaraderie I’ve built over the past couple of years in this office, and I know everyone outside my door has my back!” Marco probably stated.
Getting out of her chair and storming out of the office, she was met by everyone who fell in line with the Imperial Knight. They even had balloons and streamers ready. The celebration was wooden, and seldom as they knew, her days were numbered here in this office.
With her head down, she didn't even look at anybody. Marco decided to clean out her office today and pack her suitcase tonight. All waiting for her was a bus ride to Lancashire, her new post and home.