A New Mission (3)

This chapter contains depictions/implications of suicidal ideation. Please reach out if you or someone you know needs help. The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is 1-800-273-8255 or http://www.crisistextline.org

Marc's townhouse had been turned into a laboratory for Eloise and James.

So much of the house had been taken over with alchemic and magical tools that there was hardly any room for Marc to exist in his own home. He had considered going to stay with his family while Eloise took over his home, but he was too curious about her experiments to leave the house any longer than he absolutely had to.

He was also still a bit worried that the divine dagger would misbehave and burn down his home.

"I think I've got it!" Eloise screeched and jumped up excitedly. "I needed to isolate which bit of spell work to cut; it's embedded in your skin after all, so I can just slice it all up. But I think I've got it."

"Can you do it now?" Marc asked.

"Not quite." Eloise sighed. "I've already been brewing an elixir that I'll need for the process, but it looks like I'll need a bit of the caster and castee's blood to help the divine dagger cut through the mana without harming yours. It's a bit like a key to help him recognize what's foreign mana."

"How much blood do you need?"

"Just a couple drops would do." Eloise shrugged.

"I think I can get that." Marc said. "I should be able to get it today."

Theo had already contacted Marc and asked to meet.

"Really? I'll go ahead and prepare everything to do the procedure tonight, then." Eloise was practically beaming.

"Great. I'll head out then." Marc rubbed his neck. He couldn't believe it had taken Eloise right at a week to figure out how to break the oath.

Of course, he supposed she had really been working on this long before she ever got her hands on the divine dagger.

Marc was in such a good mood that he stopped to buy snacks on his way to the fountain. He even bought extra for Theo and Scourge.

He had to admit, the little dragon was growing on him.

Marc didn't sit at the fountain that long before Theo arrived.

"Hey!" Marc waved to Theo before faltering. Something about Theo's complexion looked extra pale and sickly. "Is something wrong?"

"My new orders. I-" Theo choked as the oath around his neck tightened. His eyes seemed hollow. "You know, I've been trained to be immune to most types of poison."

"What are you talking about out of the blue?" Marc dropped the snacks.

"But I haven't quite mastered the reselden root. It's a big weakness of mine. Killing me with a weapon would be disastrous because of all the blood, and most poisons only make me a little queasy, but reselden root could be my downfall."

"Theo!" Carrot stamped a foot. "Stop talking like this."

"If I did happen to be done in by reselden root, my body would need to be cremated immediately so there's no risk of my blood getting spilt."

"What's your new order? What's wrong?"

"I'm supposed to kill Owen and Marie." Theo collapsed at Marc's feet. "Please help me."

Marc swallowed.

"What type of deadline are we working on for this assassination?"

"I have a week and five days left." Theo said. "Incidentally, reselden root is tricky to get, but I happen to have some friends in the black market that can purchase it in about ten days."

"Well," Marc stuttered, "If you have a week and five days to carry out an assassination, you should obviously use all that time coming up with a plan. Why don't you crash at my place until the last day?"

"You'll help me?"

Marc grabbed Theo by the wrist and pulled him up.

"Come along." Marc said. "The yard of my house is tiny, but I guess Carrot can crash there, too. I'm warning you that my house is crowded right now. Eloise is over running an experiment. And she's going to want a couple drops of your blood."

"My blood?"

"Don't worry, she'll be careful not to let it touch the ground."

"Okay." Theo nodded. "As long as she's careful."

When they arrived back to Marc's house, Eloise was thrilled.

"Wow! You made good on that promise! I have all the blood I want!" Eloise shouted.

Theo flinched a little.

"I'm sorry." Eloise apologized. "I was rude in my excitement. I really do need your blood for an experiment, and I lost my mind a little."

Theo's eyes flicked between Eloise and Marc. If her experiment had anything to do with oaths, that would be great for him.

But Theo couldn't ask. If Eloise was trying to break the oath on Marc, then Theo's oath wouldn't let him speak so freely to Marc. It was better not to have verification.

"Wow," Scourge poked his head out of Theo's pocket and clambered onto his shoulder. "Marc's house is messy."

"Scourge, that's not polite to say." Theo lightly thumped the dragon's head.

"But you're not telling him he's wrong." Marc grumbled. "It's just because of the experiments. It's not normally like this."

"Blood?" Eloise smiled at Theo with a glass vial and a needle. "I only need a couple of drops."

"Just promise not to drop any on the ground – or anything relating to the Earth element." Theo extended his hand to Eloise.

"I will handle your blood with all the care in the world." Eloise pledged before pricking Theo's index finger with the needle. She carefully squeezed a few drops in the vial before carefully bandaging Theo's finger. "Now if you excuse me, the experiment will work better if the blood is fresh."

"It'd be better if you weren't in here for the experiment." Marc said.

Theo's eyes went wide. If Marc was making him leave the room, the experiment might really be related to the oath.

"I'll show you to the sitting room. There's a bit of spare room on the couch. My guest room has already been taken. But it should be comfortable enough."

The room Marc led Theo to was cluttered with research journals, documents, beakers and alchemical tools.

"Marc! Get in here!" Eloise shouted. "It's ready."

"Anyway, James is going to cook dinner after the experiment, so come eat with everyone then."

Theo gave an obedient nod and plopped down on the sofa.

Meanwhile, Marc returned to the dining room where Eloise had called for him.

"We should go up to your bedroom." Eloise had a basket full of supplies. "I'll need you reclining for this. And we need James as well to help keep you still." She paused before shouting. "James, can you meet us in Marc's room?"

Eloise wasted no time when they got to Marc's room.

"Give me a drop of your blood." Eloise pricked Marc's finger and squeezed the blood on the divine dagger. "This is going to help the dagger understand which mana is yours."

She the poured Theo's blood on the dagger. "And this will let it know the foreign mana."

[What the hell is this?] The divine dagger's voice reverberated in Eloise's head as soon as Theo's blood fell onto him. [This is Theo's blood? You are sure?]

"Yes. I just collected it myself." Eloise replied.

[Even Numen's children shouldn't have this much mana in their blood. What happened?]

Eloise flinched at the dagger's tone. It almost sounded frightened.

"Can we table this discussion for after the procedure?" Eloise asked.

[…fine.]

Eloise breathed a sigh of relief. Then she handed Marc a vial of violet elixir.

"This will help subdue your mana to make it easier for the dagger to avoid harming your mana."

Marc drank the liquid. It was bitter.

James walked in as Eloise was handing Marc another vial of elixir. This one was clear.

"This will help you stay calm and alleviate any pain."

"Wait, is this going to hurt?"

Eloise shrugged. "It's an unrecorded procedure. Who knows if it will be painful or not?"

"Great." Marc muttered before drinking the vial.

"Now go ahead and lie down."

Eloise pulled a two small gems out of her basket of goods and placed one on either side of Marc's neck. He felt a strange sensation like his skin was writhing and the oath seemed to hover ever so slightly above his skin.

"Those are helping pull the spellwork forward a bit. It should help make things easier for the dagger."

Eloise took a deep breath and tilted Marc's head. She drew a line over part of the script on his neck and held the dagger in her hands.

She began to chant in a language Marc was unfamiliar with. As her chanting grew louder, she drew a shallow cut on the side of his throat.

Marc felt like his mana was splitting apart. It burned.

Eloise's chanting became faster and James held Marc still while she kept the dagger pressed to Marc's neck.

Then something snapped, and Marc's mana settled. It felt like a weight had been lifted off his neck and just a dull ache was left.

"The scripts gone." Eloise smiled. "How do you feel? Do you feel compelled to obey the old oath?"

"Theo is Dullahan's right hand man." Marc tested the words out. The old oath didn't react at all. "It looks like it worked."

"You did it, Eloise." James lifted Eloise into a hug. "I knew you could do it."

"Careful, I'm carrying a dagger still!"

Eloise beamed as James put her back on the ground.

"If only I could publish this." Eloise cheered. "But then we would have to admit to stealing a divine artifact from the church. Oh man, I have to get my hands on one of these legally."

"We need to have a meeting with everyone." Marc said. "Eloise, can you get Marie, Clara and Giselle. James, can you get Henley? Ah, I wish Vin was around."