^^ Lillian ^^

--- Lillian Cordova ---

I left Oscar with grandfather, sighing mentally at the manipulation I wasn't necessarily comfortable with.

The Count had told me to get him to stay by any means necessary, but it felt wrong to lie to him, so instead I didn't lie, I just bribed him subconsciously. Good food, answers to questions he's had that no one could answer, possibly friends his own age... all things he would want.

I sighed again. "I'm such a fucking asshole..."

"Well we agree on something." Ryan threw her arm over my shoulders.

"Shut up." I growled.

"It's alright, luv. This is a better place for him than the Russian Mages Guild. You know how they treat their mages there. Like weapons, tools. Not scholars. And before you say we're weapons to, we chose this-," She tapped her armor, which she'd put on in my absence.

"-And we can un-chose at any time! We're not slaves, we're soldiers. I believe that, and that's how I sleep at night." She patted my shoulder, and wandered away, catching Pamela and kissing her thoroughly, then walking away together.

I sighed and sat down in a bar. "Barkeep! Something smooth."

A glass of wine was placed in front of me swiftly, and I payed the silver coin for the bottle.

---

I woke up slowly, and covered my face with a pillow. "Why am I awake?" I groaned.

"I can't open the door. It's locked." Oscar said timidly.

I nodded slowly. "Okay... I'll unlock it... gimmezzz..."

He sighed. "Do you want me to unlock it and leave you your key?"

"No... wouldn't work..." I slung a leg out of bed, followed by the other, and then stood up, curling my blanket around my body, and carried myself to the door, unlocking it magically. "Take the key... the password for guests is 'Wessex Sucks'." I grumbled, and plopped down on my mattress.

He snorted. "You're hilarious."

I waved a hand at him blindly. "Shoo..."

"I'll bring you some food and water later." He nodded, and trundled himself out of the door.

I closed my eyes to get some more sleep.

---

Food and coffee were suddenly under my nose, and I blinked slowly. "Jacob?" I murmured.

"Oi, luv. Heard you had a midg, here, thought we ought to have a talk, eh?" He snorted.

I chuckled softly and shook my head, sitting up slowly, and accepting the mug and plate. The coffee, eggs, and potatoes went down hot and smooth, just like it should, and I felt my gut stop clenching, finally. "Thanks, Jacob. My stomach was killing me." I patted his cheek.

He sat next to me. "It's no problem... So what's the deal with this demon-baby-wizard-thing you've taken on? Previous marriage?" He smirked.

"Shush you... no. He's from Russia, got a genetic sort of gravity magic in his skin activated by contact... when people touch him, the touch is redirected with infinite mass and velocity." I shivered.

"Ouch." He hissed softly.

"Exactly... but he isn't a bad kid, he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. He was doing fine, until some asshole started giving him a hard time, then laid hands on him, and managed to rip himself in half." I shrugged.

"And incited an angry mob that couldn't have hurt him, even if they were all wielding damascene steel cannons." He nodded.

"Correct."

"Alright. And so the Count asked you to keep an eye on him? Till his Ma or Pa gets here to claim him?"

"Yes..." I frowned.

"And... no?" He asked.

"And no." I sighed.

He knew from my tone that I couldn't explain. "Alright... well, as long as you're not trying to kill him, I'm fine."

"No, no, nothing like that! No, he's just a very valuable mage, and we don't want him to become one of those slaves of Russia, like the Russian 'Mage Guild'." I snorted derisively, and regretted it as my skull ached fiercely.

He nodded. "Alright, makes sense... wouldn't want him in their army. But if he's a noble of the Russian Court, he has no choice, right?"

"Well, apparently, his family is rather secretive, and has ties to the Mongol Hoard. I'm willing to bet that's why their family is left alone." I nodded.

He whistled softly. "The Mongol Hoard, eh? Golden or Silver?"

"Gold, I think he said. His father is one of the lesser Heir's." I smiled.

"Ouch... yeah, Russia has balls of steel, but they'd need some titanium gonads to fuck with the Asian Chapter. So he's relatively safe." He nodded.

"Relatively." I sighed.

"Hmm... alright. Well, I'll go meet him. If he's gonna be around for a while, he should at least know your husband." He smiled and kissed me, then reared back. "But first, I'm getting you in a bath, and making you brush your teeth!" He fake retched.

I laughed and smacked his arm. "You jackass! How rude!"

He smiled and picked me up carefully. "Ah, but you love me, luv! You love me long time." He winked suggestively, and laughed and I covered his face with my pillow.

"You are the stupidest man alive." I sighed.

He shrugged and took us into the bathroom, drawing a bath. "Ah well. I'm also the one you're married to, so you sorta lucked out. I may be silly and a little stupid, but I'm also totally fucking handsome."

"Ohh, here we go." I sighed and smiled as he stripped swiftly.

"I mean, just look at these chiseled lines along my stomach and back! My smooth German Skin! My Adonis-Like cheekbones... oh, and my massive manhood, but that's alright, I'm not that vain about it." He struck a suggestive pose on the edge of the tub, enjoying the fact that his naked body was clearly exposed.

I laughed and kissed his cheek. "You're beautiful. And I'm not sorry."

"About-"

I pushed him into the full bathtub, and giggled at his indignant squawk of surprise.

I laughed and climbed in with him after I'd stripped, and relaxed on his chest. "Mm... but your chest is very chiseled, I'll give you that. Working out more, those last two months in Ireland?"

"Yeah, the Mage Battalion Commandant there is a fucking slave-driver... I mean, it's effective, but ugh! The first few days were absolutely hell!" He sighed, hugging me. "What about you, Vice-Captain Cordova?" He smirked.

"Mm... not as bad as I'd thought. Kinda fun, really. The city has a lot of security problems, but they're mostly little things, magic isn't even necessary to solve them, which I like... and being fourth in command means I have a boss, but she's interesting, and maybe not nice, but she's fair, which I think is better, anyway." I nodded.

"That's good... and more good news, I was transferred to the London Forces, today, so I'll be able to be here more than every weekend. Maybe even daily, if I get the schedule down quick." He grinned.

I smiled and kissed him sweetly. "Very good. Because I need more doses of you, not inoculations once a week. What's your rank, now, then? Corporal? Lance-Corporal?"

"Just Corporal. I traded in a promotion for a transfer. The commandant was really cool about it, surprisingly, when I told him why I wanted it." He shrugged.

"Mm... Lover?"

"Yes?" He leaned his head back.

"... I kinda need to pee." I smirked.

He chuckled and released me, letting me get up, then popped my butt when I stood up fully. I yelped and swatted at him, smiling. "Perv." I chuckled.

---

I tightened my armor-straps slowly, and kissed Jacob's lips as he made his way to the door. "Can you get my shoulders?" I asked quickly.

He nodded and laced the pauldrons fully on, then kissed my cheek. "Love you."

"Aha, but If only I could love you more often, and with greater intensity..." I smirked.

He chuckled. "And I'm the perv? I'll see you tonight, lover." He kissed me again, and then darted out of the door in response to the hourly bell on my clock, which meant he was going to be late if he stayed any longer.

I sighed and followed, locking the door, and hung my helmet on my belt, walking to the Atrium, and approaching my Superior Officer at her desk, doing paperwork, as always. "Vice-Captain Cordova, Reporting, Captain." I said.

She glanced up away from her paperwork. "You look bone-tired. Why?" She asked simply.

"I was... given unpleasant orders, and I carried them out... and then I drank quite a bit of wine to get rid of the queasiness in my stomach." I answered honestly.

She nodded. "Understandable. I know about the orders your talking about. Didn't sit well with me either. Can you do a 10 hour shift, or do you want an 8 and a 12 tomorrow?"

"Wherever you need me. I'm good now." I smiled.

She smirked. "A warm bath, coffee, and a visit from a husband do wonders, I'm aware, but are you sure? Because what I need is two people, very alert people, running a 10-Hour guard-duty over in the Library Tower."

I frowned. "More break-ins?"

She nodded. "Yep."

"Anything important?" I scratched my cheek.

"Nothing irreplaceable, but important, yes." She shrugged.

"Alright... I'll take it, then. Who's my Mage?"

She pointed behind me. "Choose one."

I hummed at the three people lounging around next to the desk. "Dara, you up for a 10-Shift in the library?" I asked one I knew and tolerated, a tall African woman transferred from the Egypt Chapter about a year ago.

She shrugged and sheathed the scimitar she'd been carefully cleaning, standing and saluting the Captain.

"Alright, I'll mark it down. And you two, make yourselves useful!" The Captain balled up a piece of paper and pegged it at the two men who were still sitting.

They stood and lazily saluted, meandering away to find something to do. Or eat, more likely.

I sighed and saluted, then fit my helmet onto my head, situating myself, and then looked at Dara. She took out her Amulet, a beautiful Desert-Willow and Volcanic-Gold ring, sliding it onto her non-dominant hand.

I nodded and started walking.
-
We reached the library tower after five minutes of calm, companionable silence, and then entered the Library.

The tower was the shortest out of all of them, but also the second widest, and seeing as it had no apartments and restaurants to take up space, only bookshelves on the first eight floors, it was truly massive, in terms of the feeling it gave you, just to stand in the middle.

I approached the Elder who was in charge of the whole place, and saluted. "Cordova and Dara, Reporting for-"

"Yes yes yes, I know what you're here for... you young people underestimate us far too much... follow me." He grumbled, and started moving his wheel-chair, guiding us down an isle to the edge, where we saw a shattered window.

"And no one heard this? This is triple-paned, magic-proofed hurricane glass." Dara nudged a piece of the glass, which was nearly as thick as my thumb.

He nodded. "Exactly what I said! But the investigator thinks there was a spell that took the sound away, and allowed them to get in here unseen. It was broad daylight, too." He grumbled.

I blinked, and slowly knelt, sniffing. "Does anyone smell mint? Or is it just me?"

"I thought it was your shampoo." Dara hummed.

"No, I always use lilac, because it covers up- not important. I don't use Mint. Mint is a Magical component, and it's all over this glass. Why?" I asked.

Dara picked up a piece of the glass, and then her ring lit up. "Some type of concoction... maybe Herb Magic? The Wiccans?" She asked.

I nodded. "Sounds right. The American Wiccan's and Witches have been trying to get more powerful for centuries, to finally be recognized as a real Mage Guild."

Dara nodded. "I'll report it to the Captain, might be useful."

"Good, and send a Familiar to look at all the windows from outside. I'll do inside, just in case." I laboriously built a ferret Familiar out of smoke, and sent him off to do just that, though he waddled a bit when he turned, because of the lack of pinkies, an oversight on my part.

She had already built a gigantic, impressive falcon, and she sent it outside to scout the windows.

The Elder nodded. "Good! Now, clean this up, please, the glass might cut someone." He rolled away.

I waved a hand, and the glass crushed itself to dust, forming a pile.

"I've got the rest." Dara said, and flicked a finger at the window. The pile of glass sand reformed the panes slowly, and then sealed itself.

We continued around the library, searching for anything amiss, but aside from two boys who thought the back of the library was a good place to hook up, and a group of girls who were using the roof to imbibe recreational drugs, it was secure.