Page 29 of Sinistram
“If we’re right about someone using monsters to draw out the hunters, then until we figure this out, there’s no such thing as a cold haunt. Whoever’s behind this has enough magic to wakeup a gnome, so that means they can probably juice up banished ghosts or call new monsters,” Brent said. “But we still don’t know why.”
“One of those near-misses happened when someone sabotaged the hunters’ truck while they were fighting some angry ghosts. Last I checked, most ghosts couldn’t cut brake lines,” Mark added. “Then two other hunters were nearly taken out with rifle shots. Luckily, they were psychic and literally saw it coming, but it’s not deer season, if you know what I mean.”
“A deer rifle can hit a target that’s about 300 feet away, can’t it?” Brent’s experience was more with military weaponry.
“Technically, yes,” Mark answered. “Although most people go for around 100 feet.”
“Still, that’s far enough away to make it difficult to see the shooter,” Brent mused.
“That’s sort of the point,” Mark said. “As for the Occulatum, they’re worried. Not just about the weird omen stuff and the threats to hunters, but I get the feeling there’s political church stuff going on. Even Father Leo has been on edge.”
“Do you think he’d answer a direct question if you asked?”
“Depends. What do you want to know?” Mark asked.
“Whether he thinks Sinistram might be involved,” Brent said.
“You don’t mince words.” Mark blew out a breath. “I can ask. I know Father Leo tries to stay away from those sorts, like Travis does. I take it Travis has suspicions, and he can’t look into them because the Sons of Darkness still hold a grudge?”
“Yep. He got weird vibes when he went to the library a few days ago, and a bunch of books were missing from the shelves, but the priests wouldn’t tell him anything,” Brent said.
“Books on what?”
“Vampires, mostly. And a few on necromancers.”
“Well, that can’t be good,” Mark replied. “Why would vampires be involved?”
“We’re still trying to figure that out,” Brent admitted. “Which was another thing I was hoping you and Father Leo could do some poking around to get intel.”
“I’ll keep my ears open and let you know what I hear,” Mark promised.
“If you have any other names of recently dead hunters you haven’t had a chance to look into, send them to me since I’m sidelined for a day or two. I can see what shows up in my system.” As a licensed detective, Brent had access to specialized databases.
“Will do,” Mark said. “Keep your head down and try not to piss off any more gnomes.”
Brent ended the call and refilled his coffee cup, fortifying himself for the next call. He couldn’t spike his drink to ease the tension, and the painkiller didn’t really cover anxiety.
“Fuck,” he muttered under his breath, and called one of the people he disliked most.
“Brent. What a surprise. To what can I attribute the honor?” Shane, Brent’s CHARON contact, answered with the same slippery charm that always grated on Brent’s nerves.
“Who’s killing hunters, and what do vampires have to do with it?”
Shane was silent for a moment, long enough to make Brent suspect that Shane might be surprised that Brent knew something, but not that he found the question unlikely.
“You’ve been watching too much TV,” Shane finally replied, but his condescension didn’t sound as cocksure as usual.
“Here’s a theory. Tell me if you’ve heard it,” Brent said. “Someone is waking up dormant monsters and luring hunters to deal with them in order to put a hit on the hunters if the monsters don’t kill them.”
“There’s therapy for those kinds of delusions, Brent.”
Yeah, he definitely sounds a little shaken.“Is CHARON behind it? You’ve never cared much for hunters who don’t play for your team.” Brent found himself holding his breath.
“Freelance hunters are unruly, undisciplined loose cannons that pose as much danger to themselves and bystanders as they do the monsters,” Shane replied, slipping into the company line Brent had heard before. “But it’s a stretch to suggest that we’ve put a contract out on them.”
“Has someone else? Because there’s too much going on to be coincidental, and when I think of bureaucratic, immoral, powerful organizations that wouldn’t blink at offing people who got in their way, CHARON is at the top of the list.”
“Oh, we’re all of that,” Shane replied. “But in this particular case, we aren’t involved. You can take that as meaning we aren’t involved because there is no conspiracy, or because someone else’s team has the ball, but it’s the truth.”
