Chapter 7 - the search continues

Panoptes continues his search for Zoe, and gets an ally

Panoptes had been sitting in the circle, save for small breaks to visit the bathroom or grab another bottle of water, for three days. His arms ached from holding them out to sustain the globe of darkness, his legs were heavy and numb from sitting on the hard hotel floor, and his stomach was an empty pit. The darkness could survive for a brief time on its own, perhaps a minute. This allowed Panoptes to keep himself hydrated. Only his years of mental and physical discipline allowed him to endure the rigors of this sacrifice, and they were reaching their limits.

Voice commands had allowed him to use his cell phone, and he had remained in contact with Mnemosyne and the rest of Olympos. When it became clear that the shadow-beast was not going to be able to find the girl quickly, Panoptes called for reinforcements. They were dealing with someone experienced, if she could hide her trail that thoroughly. That had been the day before, and Agrotera should be arriving soon.

As though summoned by the thought, the door opened, and Panoptes squinted against the sudden intrusion of bright hallway lights. When it shut again, he was looking at a tall woman in BDU pants, boots, and a fleece lined denim jacket. She had a pair of bags with her, one long and thin.

"I can't believe it's still so cold here. You Panoptes?" she said.

"Agrotera, then," he answered with a nod. "I take it you had no trouble with the desk staff?"

"Not so's you'd notice." Agrotera's accent was distinctly Southern, but not overwhelmingly thick. "Did you tell them I was a guy?"

"No, I just didn't say one way or another. I guess they were looking for 'Mr. Jones' then?"

"Yep. I guess a man and a woman can't have a business trip to the same place without it being hanky-panky. You should have seen the looks that kid was giving me." Her eyes lost focus, fixed upon some mental tableau. "He's got no idea."

Panoptes wondered idly if she was considering some past debauchery, or savoring the idea of implenting protocol Chiron. He'd never worked with this Agrotera before, and had no idea what sort of approach she would take.

He was pulled from his consideration of his new partner when the magic he was feeding into the ball of darkness before him began to stutter. His eyes snapped front, focusing on the inky blackness between his shaking hands. He breathed deeply, and made a conscious effort to open the flow and maintain it. He felt an answering throb behind his left eye as his body complained of the strain. If he allowed the globe to die, he would lose his link to the shadowbeast. If he did that, it would be as much a violation of their compact than if he ceased to feed it light, a lapse that would be fatal. As exhausted as he currently was, he'd have little chance of defending himself if the beast turned on him.

"Oh ho! I guess Miss Mnemosyne wasn't kidding when she said you were already deep into this thing. How long have you been maintaining the ritual?"

"Three days," Panoptes said with a sigh. "Physically, I'm doing alright, but magically I am just about done in. Have you performed this kind of summoning before?"

"A time or two. Nothing this long-term, though. Step one, though, let's see what we're dealing with." She lay the long, hard sided case on the bed, and began opening locks both mundane and magical. When she swung it open, Panoptes could just make out the profile of some kind of scoped rifle, and few other items that weren't discenable from his angle. Agrotera turned back to face the circle with a pair of yellow tinted glasses on. A gleam crawled across the lenses that couldn't be explained by the position of the room's lights.

Interesting, Panoptes thought, an artificer. I'd have expected something a bit more personal from the Hunter.

"Nothing we can't deal with," Agrotera said after a short time. "Going to go around behind you and put my hands on you. I won't smudge the circle."

Panoptes focused on maintaining a smooth flow of power into the shadow before him. Agrotera stepped nimbly around him and his circle, stepping up onto the bed and coming back down behind him. She settled strong hands on his shoulders. The contact was firm without pushing. Panoptes opened himself to her magical presence, and felt a surge of energy flow into him from her. It was unusual, coming as it did from a stranger, but the Cabal's shared teachings allowed them to work together with minimal loss of magic.

Almost immediately, the demon made contact with Panoptes' mind.

There you are. I was starting to think you were going to fail our bargain, the shadowbeast sent. Take heart, flesh creature. The ordeal will soon be over. I have the scent.

"Beautiful," he said aloud. "My servant has found trace of the woman. We should know something before... Wait, what time is it?"

"About 7 in the morning. It's Wednesday."

"Later than I thought. No matter. By tonight, we'll have her."

Reviews

[Isemay]

I think I'm starting to hate this 'Discover' function. I find stories that are interesting and pull me in and then they haven't been worked on in years. I would love to read more of this if you have it somewhere!