Chapter 208 - Karmic Retribution

In the morning, I asked Prom Queen to find someone to edit the video I and JJ made. I wished I saw her reaction after she watched it for the first time—it would've given me a good idea of what reaction to expect from anyone else who might see it. In the end, I just had to content myself with appraising the result and finding it pretty terrifying, if you weren't familiar with JJ.

He really could make that sort of non-threatening threat work. Probably because he was sincere in the intent he projected. I, for one, didn't doubt for a moment that he'd deal with anyone else who decided to pester us as quickly and efficiently as he dealt with Desmond, or with the shapeshifters that attacked him. The same way he hypnotised too curious reporters and protesters of all things magical and convinced them that stalking people, being a general paparazzi and standing next to the store with "burn the witch" posters was just… very impolite.

We didn't post the video anywhere public, using more discreet and supernaturals-oriented channels for it instead. Did it work in warding off any other attacks? It was hard to say. No one attacked us since, so here it was.

Oh, there were people who pestered the store still, but they were all normal humans. And, as racist as that might sound, this just made them pretty easy to deal with.

And the very next day after the video with Desmond was posted, I got a first offer to buy him. To my surprise, it came not from a vampire, but from a coven, and the sum they offered was more than enough for me as an incentive. Still, of course, I had to negotiate and haggle first.

The coven in question was one of those in my city—Mirage Coven. In fact, when I checked on the map, it was based right next to Desmond's (former) territory, which didn't surprise me at all. What did surprise me was that the Elder of it himself went to discuss the deal with me. But he soon made his reasons for that clear.

"This is a once in a lifetime opportunity not just for me, but for entire Mirage Coven. Desmond had been a plague to us ever since he moved into the city and conquered the streets next to ours. He constantly pushed on the borders, but never boldly enough for us to call him on it. Four generations—generations!—Of our Elders had tried to bargain with him, threaten, plead, ask other covens for help, but Desmond was as elusive as the mist he can turn into. In fact, I was sure that our attempts brought that sadistic bastard, pardon my words, great joy in their futility."

I studied the man's face, wrinkled with age and bitter anger, and his eyes, bright with intelligence and blazing with conviction. This didn't look to me like just revenge…

"May I ask you what exactly Desmond did to your coven? I feel like it was not just 'pushing borders'."

"No, it wasn't, Diana. For the longest time—from what our chronicles say, for longer than our city stood—Desmond had an unusual for a vampire interest in magic as witches perceive it. I don't know the specifics of it, only that for acquiring the knowledge that interested him, Desmond chose to kidnap witches. Never so boldly that we could pin it on him, too… Not in a single coven, at least. But ask, even in your own coven, Diana—how many witches disappeared mysteriously in the last three centuries? It's easy to forget when your life is short, and he used it." Mirage Elder sighed. "Who knows, maybe some of them disappeared for other reasons. But after all the years, I'm sure it was Desmond's fault."

I sat straighter. Mirage Elder's worlds hit a recent memory in me. "I always wanted an arch-witch," Desmond had said, or something like it. Yeah, I was his target from the start—all the recent political turmoil was just a convenient reason to explain my disappearance to anyone else.

"This sounds just like something he would do. I will be happy to sell him to you. I'd give him to you for free, but," I grinned, "I'm sure a rich coven like yours can spare a coin."

Mirage Elder chuckled with some visible relief. "Of course. This isn't just about revenge or justice, Diana. I hope that after Desmond wakes up—in a sealed prison, of course—we will be able to find out the fates of his victims and bring to peace their souls, or at least those of their surviving relatives."

I nodded solemnly. "I wish you good luck in that, and to watch the asshole carefully."

Karmic retribution. JJ was totally right on that.

So, no one tried to kill me afterwards, and I could add healing magic to the list of disciplines I studied from Ghost again, though I didn't forget about combat practice either. It made for a very busy life at first, with having to deal with my publicity and shop on top of that, until other supernaturals began to speak up publically about themselves.

Witches, the most normal at first glance, most human, and most eager to be accepted as such. Shapeshifters—not in Petersburg, but in the world, hoping for the law's protection against vampire's eternal hunt on them. Vampires that were tired from living in the shadows. And of course, no one knew what to do with them and how to interact with them in the society. How to regulate vampire powers and their use on people? How to police witches and their magic when you can't even see it?

In time, I expected to find supernaturals banding together to police themselves—maybe create a magical police?—but I expected it won't be anytime soon. For now, it was pure chaos—but now that I wasn't a focus point of it, the pressure from me fell.. And, despite all the turmoil… it wasn't all bad.