Oddly enough, Davyn Smithy worked out of an insurance office. A bland, dreary sort of a place, thoroughly non-magical and uninteresting and as far as possible from the dramatic personality he tried to portray within the magical community. He met her wearing a white shirt with blue pinstripes, glasses with thin black rims, and dark slacks. Without his dramatic robes, he looked like an accountant instead of a warlock.
“Good to see you again, Miss Rawlins,” he greeted with a polite smile, putting his hand out to shake hers. Reg did not shake. After an awkward moment, he lowered his hand, his neck flushing red around his collar. “I have a meeting room booked for us. Would you like coffee? Water?”
“Coffee. Just black.”
He gestured. “This way.”
Other people were bustling around the office. No one who took any note of Reg. No one who was expecting anything the least bit magical to happen while she was there. It was reassuring. She was sure there were still things Davyn could do to influence her, but if she kept up her guard, maybe everything would be fine. She would make sure he understood that under no circumstances should they believe what Corvin said about wanting what was best for the community.
They sat down, each with a cup of coffee.
“Let’s get this straight right from the start,” Reg said flatly. “There is nothing generous or altruistic about Corvin. He does what is best for him, not for anyone else. He’ll portray himself in the best light possible, but don’t believe it.”
“I have known Corvin for a lot longer than you.”
“So maybe you’re not the best one to see him for what he is. He uses your relationship to pull the wool over your eyes. He laughs at you thinking that you are capable of making an unbiased judgment. Because if you saw him for the predator he is, you would know that he didn’t go to that warehouse because he wanted to fight the draugrs and save the community. He went there because he wanted to suck the powers out of the artifacts that the Witch Doctor was smuggling, and eventually, even from the Witch Doctor himself. Do you have any idea how powerful he is now, after drinking all of that in? He’s dangerous, and you’re just going to turn him loose on the community.”
“A decision has not been made. Don’t assume that you know what will happen.”
“You’re telling me you believe what he is saying about saving the city from the Witch Doctor. So it’s obvious which way you are going.”
“You are jumping to conclusions.”
Reg stared at him, meeting his eyes aggressively until he was forced to look away. “I wouldn’t have survived this long if I hadn’t been able to make snap judgments about what other people are thinking. You want him to be free in the community. You want to talk to him and to discuss business with him. You don’t want to have to shun him.”
Davyn sighed, looking down into his coffee cup. “All of that is true,” he admitted. “But I am not going to make a decision without considering the opinions of everyone involved. I will rule against my own desires and preferences if that is what is best for the magical community.”
Reg wondered whether that were true. Even if Corvin agreed to follow the rules of his coven, those rules were still biased against the women he preyed upon. Without any changes in the rules of how he was to conduct himself, women would continue to be victimized, their powers stripped away by him when they didn’t understand what he could do. It had happened to Reg. It would happen to others. There was no doubt in her mind.
“So what’s going to happen? If you decide that he did what he did because he was trying to protect everyone, then you’ll decide that it is of benefit to the community for him to be a full part of it again. And then he’ll be able to do what he wants to.”
“He will still be expected to follow the rules of the coven and the laws of the land.”
“He’ll go back to doing what he’s been doing all along.”
“We don’t have the ability to change his nature. The magical community strives to find a balance between allowing the races their own cultural norms and providing for their needs and preventing harm. Obviously, we cannot always protect everyone. We have to balance the rights of one people against the rights of another.”
“In nature, there are predators and there are prey. That doesn’t mean we let jackals roam the streets and steal children. Our laws make it illegal for people to kill, steal, and rape. That’s how you protect people. Not by saying ‘unless there’s a good reason for it.’”
Davyn sat there silently. She didn’t know if he was considering what she had said or just waiting for her to finish her tirade.
“I am not justifying anything Corvin has done,” Davyn said finally. “But he is different than we are. We can’t deny that.”
“What are you going to do?”
“I don’t know yet. That’s why I’m talking with you, talking with other people who have been in contact with him while he has been shunned, visiting with him and talking to him about his plans and how he is going to contribute, and so on. I’ll investigate fully, and then I’ll make a recommendation to the council of the coven. And they will make a decision about whether to allow him back into full membership in the coven or not.”
“You’re going to ask him about his plans and expect him to tell you the truth? He’ll tell you whatever you want to hear.”
“I’m not that naive. I’ll be watching for signs of deception. I’ll be making my own observations about whether he is being open and honest.”
“He won’t be. I don’t think you know the difference.”
“The tribunal did rule against him after the hearing,” Davyn pointed out. “I would think you would have some faith in the process after that.”
Reg considered. Was it evidence that they were going to do the right thing and not be misled by Corvin’s charm? “I’m more inclined to think that was a one-time thing,” she admitted. “An anomaly.”
“It wasn’t. That’s the way we work. We’re not just spouting ideals and closing our eyes to reality. We understand what Corvin did and that it was wrong. We understand that he has victimized you more than once.”
Reg nodded her agreement.
“And yet…” Davyn trailed off.
“What?”
“Even though he has repeatedly shown you his predatory nature, you continue to talk to him and to take on cases with him. You fought the Witch Doctor alongside him, in spite of your history.”
“I can’t help it if he shows up at my house or calls me on the phone. You know he can use his charms to involve people in things that they wouldn’t choose to do otherwise.”
“Why did you agree to fight the Witch Doctor?”
“I didn’t.” Reg’s face flushed hot and she looked away from him. “I told him over and over again that I wouldn’t. I told him he was on his own. To get someone else to help him.”
“And yet, you still ended up in that warehouse with him.”
“I had a vision… I saw the draugr that was stalking him and chasing him. I had to get over there to help him. He would have been killed if I hadn’t intervened.”
“And then you agreed to go after the Witch Doctor.”
“It was the only thing left to do.” Reg couldn’t think of any other way to explain it. She wasn’t sure herself how she had finally gotten embroiled in the fight. No matter how hard she fought it, she knew it was inevitable that she would get involved. Harrison had told her so.
Harrison.
Had his involvement been greater than she had thought? Had he pushed her into it, despite his protests that he couldn’t do anything to harm another of his kind? He was the one who had told her she would fight the Witch Doctor. He had given her tips on what she needed to do to defeat him. And then he had disappeared. Was he the one who was responsible for Reg joining the fight? If so, what was his motive for wanting her to fight or to defeat the Witch Doctor?
Were they rivals? Enemies? Did they have a past? Old friends? Brothers? And what about the other immortal that Harrison had mentioned? Weston. It turned out that the Witch Doctor had been looking for Weston, even though he wouldn’t admit it. And from his words to Reg… maybe Weston had some shared connection with her too. But she didn’t like to think that it was true.
“Reg…?”
Reg focused her attention back on Davyn. “What?”
“You said that Corvin’s reason for going into the warehouse was to consume the powers of the magical artifacts being stored there.”
“Yeah. Exactly.”
“How did you know that?”
“He’d said more than once that he needed to get into the warehouse. And when it got down to the fight, his role was to consume as much of the magic as he could so that he would be strong enough to face the Witch Doctor. That was his whole reason for getting into the building. It wasn’t to kill the Witch Doctor, that was just a secondary goal. And he took magic from the Witch Doctor directly, too. Put his hands on him and just… sucked it out.”
Reg remembered the feeling, being able to sense the flow of magic and sensing the shift when he started to pull directly from the Witch Doctor. It was terrible and frightening, like watching a lion take down a gazelle. Something she could hardly tear her eyes away from, no matter how awful it was.
Reg’s fingers itched. She fidgeted. She slid her hand into the pocket of her skirt and touched the old key there. It was comforting in her hand. She pictured herself using it. Just what did it unlock? What kind of power or wealth would be hers if she could find the lock it would open?
“You don’t think that Corvin would have fought the Witch Doctor just to protect the people of Black Sands. You think the only reason he faced him was to get the Witch Doctor’s hoard and to take away his power.”
Reg had been distracted by the touch of the key. She turned her eyes back to Davyn. “That’s right. He wouldn’t have done anything just to help a few insignificant people. He wanted power. That was the only reason he was there.”
Davyn tapped a pen against the table, ticking away the time. His eyes were far away. How long had he known Corvin? Had they been boys together? Both were, Reg had been told, much older than they looked. Maybe not as old as centuries-old Sarah, but significantly older than their thirtyish bodies led her to believe. They might have been friends for decades, devoted to each other.
“Is there anything else?” Davyn asked eventually. “Are there other things I should be aware of? Since you have been in contact with him and the rest of the coven has not, you may know of things that we have no idea of.”
“He’s still trying to steal my powers. Even after all he consumed at the warehouse, the massive amount of magic that he is holding now, he is still trying to steal mine.”
Davyn rubbed the stubble of his beard. She had previously thought this was an affectation, that he wanted to appear wise before the others of his coven. But maybe it was just an unconscious gesture.
“Why would he still want your powers? He should be sated.”
“Yeah, you would think so, wouldn’t you? He compared me to dessert.”
Davyn’s lips twitched into a slight smile. “Dessert?”
“That even though he’s full, he still wants… my powers too. For some reason, I guess they are sweeter to him.”
“Because he has already held them once?”
“I guess. I don’t understand it all. I don’t understand my own powers, much less how it feels for him to hold them. And how he can hold so many other powers at the same time. It seems like… there should be a natural balance, a point at which he can’t consume any more, or there is some… negative effect to consuming more. You know what I mean? With food, if you eat too much, you throw up.”
Davyn shrugged. “I don’t think any of us can understand it, only another one like him.”
“Like his father?”
“I told you that warlocks like him are rare. We don’t have others to ask. Others like him who would tell us what is fair punishment and what is not. How much he can control and how much is instinctual. Whether all warlocks of his nature would behave the same way, or whether that is just Corvin. We have the old texts, and have referred to them as much as possible, but they have always been feared. Others do their best to avoid them, not to document their histories.”
“You can’t just accept him back again. You can’t say that after all that he’s done, that a few weeks of shunning is punishment enough.”
“But the verdict did not say how much he needed to be punished. It said that he had to be a contributing member of the community. And when he is performing a service like he did, even if it is the side effect of pursuing his own goals, that is a great benefit to the community, and those who didn’t want him to be shunned in the first place are lobbying to have him reinstated.”
“Don’t they fear what he can do?”
“Of course… but as long as his target is someone else, it is easy for people to forget their fear. And even if he is being shunned, that does not protect anyone from him. The only thing that would protect everyone would be if he was bound. And that would be a lot more difficult.”
“The Witch Doctor could be bound.”
“Corvin has more power than the Witch Doctor. He is the only one who could overcome the Witch Doctor because he is the only one who can increase his powers that much. Who else is left?”
“Then why don’t you banish him? Send him away. Tell him he’s not welcome in the community.”
“We can tell him that, of course, but we can’t force him to leave.” Davyn held her gaze until Reg was forced to look away.