Breathe in. Breathe out.

This…this wasn't relevant. Outside of a reason for her not to hear the whisper. Something to be ignored. For now at least. Later, there would be time to think about it.

"You could be lying," I noted. "About not hearing the whisper. Or even just being another spawn of that thing. There are other reasons you might not have heard it."

"That thing is our parent," Melissa said reproachfully. "They gave us life, and they-"

"Abandoned us in a country that hates us from birth, only bothers communicating when we advance their goals, and never shows the slightest sign of caring for us outside of it," I countered. "All we got from it is Diabolism and a bloodline that more often makes us foes than friends. And even that former gift? It is only a gift if you use it right."

"It's a gift," she snapped. "Just as much as divine magic used by priests is a gift from the other side."

"Divine magic doesn't intentionally leak corruption and portals out of an intense desire to break into the world," I said. "But we're skipping a crucial step. Why should I believe you're my half-sister?"

"Do I gain anything from admitting it?" she said, staring defiantly up at me.

Yes, even if she might not know it. Versalicci did, damn him.

"Okay," I said quietly. "I might not believe you, but it's…not relevant to the immediate situation. What happened regarding this deal offered?"

She hesitated.

"I already know enough to guess some of it," I said. "Some of the diabolists decided to take this deal? Got in a fight with Versalicci over it?"

"Almost all of them," she admitted. "I only knew because some of the ringleaders, Mitchell and Frawks, started talking to me about it. They don't know about the bloodline. They were trying to recruit, said they'd talked to Daver and he told them off, said the boss would decide. They just said they wanted as many as possible to talk to the boss."

"Not the case?" I ventured.

"Daver died," she told me, the words spilling out, nearly talking over herself. "Because of this. I…I can't say for sure, but I can't think what else it might have been. Gio was furious, and it didn't take long to figure out who did it. Issue is, they were all gone."

I breathed in. Daver dead. I wouldn't miss the drunken diabolist a lot, but he had taught me, and helped me. Even if help took the form of talking a young girl into sawing off the head of her friend's corpse.

That could be dwelt on later. The other thing was more important.

"So," I said quietly. "We have how many Diabolists roaming around, trying to enact some deal with an archduke of the Hells?"

Melissa clammed up some, drawing back in on herself after the sudden outpouring of information.

"Keeping quiet on this isn't helping anyone," I told her. "I knew he still had diabolists from the time he had me summon the Duke. Pieces of demons were too fresh. And it's not like it's hard for new diabolists to come about, it's just hard for us to keep hidden. At this point, limiting the damage this causes is going to help the most, especially if it's taken as a sign of Versalicci offering help in good faith."

"He already did," she said quietly.

"He sent me after a rumour that he provided little information on," I said. "There's a good chance it could have ended in me fighting Holmsteader, or poking around for a week before I found anything leading to Donald Tyler. And then? I haven't looked through what I grabbed from his house, but how was I supposed to put together that several of his diabolist had gone rogue?"

"How did you you realize there was a deal going on so fast?" Melissa asked in response, getting a little fire back in her eyes.

"Alice Skall," I told her. "Here at Versalicci's invitation who decided to break into my house and hold me at gunpoint."

"Oh, that must have been so distressing," Melissa deadpanned, staring at the revolver still in my hand.

"Oh shush, only people with guns are allowed to be snarky," I told her. "Still, another Diabolist, here at our brother's request. Alice breaks in because her name got dragged into the shape-changer mess, she ends up talking to me trying to find out if it was my idea, and then later she mentions having a little whisper in her ear tempting her. Donald Tyler was working on something that demanded a lot of souls that he was collecting. Not necessarily the deal, but now I wish I'd dragged the summoning circle he fed them to out of that house."

"Seems way too many corpses to have been gathered that fast," Melissa said soberly.

"Depends on if he had help," I noted, thinking back on it. "When did Versalicci notice people missing?"

"No idea, I first heard about that when he tried setting you on his trail. Although he and Daver mentioned Tyler buying diabolic supplies a few weeks back. And twelve."

"Twelve Diabolists?" I asked. That was a fair few more than I expected, with Quarter under more scrutiny than it had endured in decades. Still nowhere near the number in the Flame at it's height. "Powerful?"

"Not something many share openly," Melissa said, lips quirking a little. "And the ones who did share openly were just the ones most confident in their ability to lie."

That sounded about right, but still. "You should still have an idea if they could deconsecrate a church with the corruptive effects of a spell, right?"

She blinked, disbelief plain on her face. "The corruptive effects?"

"Murder was done using a modified ritual for transforming a soul and body into that of a devil's," I told her. "Modified for pain and to make sure the subject died. And castable with a touch. The leakage from that was sufficient to deconsecrate the church."

Silence reigned in my practice chamber as she tried to digest that.

"No one," she said. "And if Daver didn't lie to me, what you're describing is…powerful. More powerful than him. More powerful than you?"

"If I could, usefulness or no I'm pretty sure the Imperial Government would have cut my head off," I said. "Could I get there? Maybe. We share a powerful bloodline Melissa. Which is part of why I'm being watched. But right now? No. And I doubt any of them were trusted enough by Father Reginald that he let them in. Does Versalicci have any interests in Belton?"

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

The question surprised her, then she pursed her lips as she thought. "I don't think so, honestly you mentioning it a few minutes ago was the first time I'd heard the name in a long time."

"There's been a string of robberies lately," I said. "Not initiations? Tests? Training?"

"No," she said firmly. "Belton is too sleepy of a neighborhood to do that. Notable enough it would draw attention."

That was true. It had been notable enough that we'd all suspected a connection as soon as it was reported.

"I'll have more questions later," I said, getting up and moving towards the door as her eyes widened.

"You're not letting me go?" She protested.

"Melissa," I said. "I will let you go, if only because I don't want an angry and desperate Diabolist in my basement. But Holmteader was here earlier, and definitely left people behind to watch. If they see Black Flame members leaving? Well, they might try something. And that's assuming it's only Holmsteader. And I'm not letting you have free rein of my house either. We wait til there are fewer watchers, and I help you out?"

It would keep her out of Versalicci's hands just a little longer. Damn me, what the hells was I trying to pull here?

The reluctant nod I got in return wasn't the most convincing gesture, but for now, it would have to do. If she made a serious effort to escape? Well, with enough force and willingness to break bones, one could do it.

***

"She's staying down there for a while," I told Gregory after talking about what had been discussed after he left. Minus the fact she was my half-sister. "Letting her go back to Versalicci isn't worth the risk. Can't be certain he's not involved in this beyond some of his people going rogue."

"Is it possible it's fake?" Gregory said with a pensive frown. "Feed a false story to this one, let her loose in the hopes it gets back to us?"

"No," I said. "Far too many variables if he wanted to do that he'd do something he'd be sure would reach us, even if the message itself is obscured. Me eventually finding Tyler? That was intentional, but Melissa was not. Hells, even if none of his other Diabolists actually left, sacrificing one for something like that would be considered a waste."

Especially if it was one of the few Diabolists capable of reaching the Duke without their heads popping like a grape.

"I'll have to arrange for someone to watch her while I'm out," I said. "Or maybe to keep her somewhere else. I don't want to send her to the Watch, and especially not Halspus' church. Or anyone else."

"Why not?"

Because she's probably my sister, wasn't going to leave my lips anytime soon, and the alternative of because I said so wasn't what I would call convincing.

"Who do you think are the two biggest collections of Diabolists outside of the dozen from the Flame?" I asked Gregory.

He raised an eyebrow, and then as he thought on it his face fell more and more.

"One is definitely the program," he said. "The details I was given were sparse, deliberately so, but they hinted at a dozen churches having had one member start studying and collecting power."

"That's why no churches," I told him. "As for why no Watch, I'm betting the second is the list of Imperial Intelligence agents or consultants who know Diabolism."

Gregory's frown deepened. "So all of the investigators who are diabolists are-"

"Maybe not," I said. "Takes a lot of effort to punch through a message from the Hells past the barriers set up around Anglea. For every diabolist not excluded by blood or some other reason? They'd hear it just because of that, but that doesn't mean other ears known to be willing aren't the target."

I despised the church of Halpsus, but they weren't entirely wrong in all things. Devils could be tricky, and convincing, but most importantly they knew precisely the right targets to whisper honeyed words to when needed.

The barriers they'd put around Anglea at great expense to keep the hells from interacting with the mortal plane except when a Diabolist managed to carve their own hole? They kept that from being anything but a rarity.

The issue is those rarities were beings of great power deciding to waste their energy doing it. What might have in the past been something some imp trying to tempt a single mortal would now require efforts by an archdevil, at least.

And would mean whatever the end goal was matched an archdevil's ambitions.

"So," Gregory said quietly. "Anyone could be working on the devil's plans then."

"Yeah," I replied. "There's exceptions to that, probably. Going forward not trusting anyone involved is a recipe for disaster. Especially when sharing information is the key to figuring out who is behind this. But tell the wrong person we're onto them? They play us like a fiddle."

"And you chose to tell me," he noted. "I'm…touched but a little surprised?"

"I didn't really know where that conversation was going to lead," I said, and his face fell. "But in truth? Whatever else, I don't think you're part of this."

Not that I could entirely trust him, no that was of course out of the question. The real answer was closer to what I'd first said, I hadn't known where that conversation would lead when I started it.

"Anyone else on that list?" Gregory asked.

"Voltar," I said, before frowning. "As far as I can tell, which is the issue isn't it? I've known him for about a month closely, the rest of the time being a minion of one of his common targets. Same with Doctor Dawes. And Barnes. And the church people on your side you've known for even less time?"

"Well, I knew Father Reginald rather well, but he's…dead."

"So, for right now, Voltar?" I asked. "We can't keep it just between the two of us, neither of us really has the authority to act on it."

Gregory frowned. "My understanding was Voltar occasionally worked for Intelligence, not that he actually was part of it?"

Well, yes, even if he had a brother who was part of it. Probably not something I should be spreading around.

"Inside the investigation," I clarified. "He has leverage inside it that neither of us have without explaining why."

"True," Gregory said. "I suppose it's a risk worth taking. But with that out of the way, why did you send me upstairs?"

I settled on the truest-sounding answer that didn't give away specifics.

"Family issues," I told Gregory bitterly. "In my experience, with few exceptions, they are some of the worst issues one can encounter. You ever had an evil brother?"

He chuckled. "William can be a bit of a brat, and Edward can be a bit of a suck-up, but neither I'd call…."

Gregory trailed off at the mention of his older brother. Awkwardly, I considered what the Hells to say to that.

In the end, Gregory spoke the silence first.

"Although speaking of family, I have talked to some of yours recently," Gregory said, and I froze.

Couldn't be Versalicci, couldn't be the devil, which meant.

"Really?" I asked coldly. "Swapping stories with the Xangs recently?"

"They have quite a few," he said. "A lot of them about what Lily Xang was like as a child."

"Lily Xang is dead," I told him. "In spirit if not in flesh quite yet. Digging up that grave is going to end with the usual responses to digging up a corpse- discomfort, anger, and sorrow for everyone involved."

"Wasn't you digging up a corpse the start of your involve-"

"Do not try to change the topic!" I yelled at him. "Lily Xang is dead! If my last conversation with my uncle was entirely true, it came very close to her literally dying, instead of being tossed with her mother to fend for themselves in the Quarter! They sat around, and eventually decided that tossing me in there was a fair alternative to cutting my Hells-damned head off Gregory!"

He had paled by that last bit, all the color faded. "I didn't know-"

"Of course you didn't," I snapped. "I've told you about things like this before, when you cornered me, exhausted and tired, and none of it seems to sink through. I can deal with you hating me for what I've done Gregory, but I am tired of this. You seem to flip-flop between considering me a monster for what I've done, and some charming innocent waif because of either what you thought of me or what others tell you. Do I seriously need to explain the concept that people can change to you?"

He actually seemed irritated at that, lips pursing in anger. "Yes, I know what that is, Malvia, but-"

"No buts," I snapped. "This is not a topic for discussion. Do me a favor, and get out of my store. Now."

He opened his mouth, then seemed to actually think better of what he was saying and headed towards the door.

I stalked off towards my rooms upstairs, hoping to find something up there to calm the anger that felt like it was throttling my brain.

I was halfway up the stairs when the bell above my door rang.

Why do I even put up a sign? I thought as I went back down the stairs, only to see Gregory Montague awkwardly peering inside, about to say something.

"I am going to shoot you," I said before he could even form a word. "Out of my store."

I was already heading to the gun under my counter. Just to reiterate my point, not to actually shoot him. He quickly opened my door the rest of the way, revealing three others on my doorstep.

Voltar, Dawes, and Tagashin in her guise as Rebecca Barnes. And from the slight bemusement on Voltar's face, worry on Dawes', and face-splitting grin on Tagashin's, all three had heard that last comments.

"Miss Harrow," Voltar said calmly, and I could only hope I did not look as embarrassed as Gregory did currently. "Sorry for the interruption, but there's been another murder. Another priest is dead."

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