Mara and Kinship of Diellor

Plan of Attack

Mara once again stumbled in the dark down the sidewalk on her way to Capricorn. She was wearing a new pair of wedges, which she had hoped would be easier to walk in. She did her best to avoid the cracks in the concrete and slick metal grates which were barely visible in the night time neon signs of the storefronts, but despite her best efforts she nearly fell a few times. The city was in the middle of a winter thaw, and the sidewalks were slick with puddles after a few days of cold rain. She was grateful to be wearing slacks and a blazer in the blustery weather. Mara tried her best to stride confidently through the front door, steeling herself for the odd glances and glares. She must have looked important enough (why would anyone dress in business attire at this hour?) because she heard no nasty comments as she cut the line. A first to say the least.

When Mara entered the small meeting room, three figures stood to greet her. She was the last to arrive, another first.

"I'm going to start this off," Vincent began, "and I'm going to be blunt. Sava's bar was basically burned to the ground last month, and the problems with Chelsea Cove have gotten worse. There is no more time for fucking around, we need to start getting involved."

"Is there any evidence that the Diellor are the ones sabotaging the pollution wards in the cove?" Mara asked Meredith.

"A young selkie took a photograph of a rune that was damaging the wards that indicated a mage that we know has been to Diellor meetings." Meredith said grimly. "We went to the Mermish council, and by the time we got an official investigation out there it was gone."

"What mage?" Vincent asked her. "Maybe we can talk some sense into him"

"Her." Meredith corrected. "The rune was very beautifully done, and the style was connected to one Katherine Delahunty."

"Are you sure?" Mara was incredulous. If this were true it might completely ruin everything. Or maybe it already had.

"Do you know her?" Vincent replied curiously.

"Kate's one of the dishwashers in my restaurant," Mara told him. "I'm shocked she would do something like this to be honest. She seems somewhat anti-vampire, but I'm surprised she would sabotage the cove. I'm pretty sure she has mermish cousins that live off the coast."

"Could she have been involved in the inferno that seized my bar?" Sava asked. His dark eyes glittered dangerously.

Mara shook her head slowly. "She just doesn't strike me as the type to be so destructive. Although..."

Mara thought for a moment, aware that all eyes in the room were on her. She knew that she had to frame the next sentence carefully, otherwise Kate might get a surprise visit from a few angry vampires.

"If she knew that you and I use a lot of the same cooking oils and ingredients, she could have taken a bottle of something out of the trash that they could have used for the spell. I just can't believe that she would be so willing to burn a building to the ground."

"She wouldn't have to be," Meredith interjected. "If the kinship knew where she worked, they could have made up any number of excuses to get a bottle."

"Should I fire her?" Mara said worriedly. "She's worked for me since she was a kid, but I have other dark magic users working for me. I don't want them to get hurt."

"No. Don't fire her." Vincent said. His eyes were far away, but Mara could see the gears spinning behind his gaze.

"We can use her. You could ask her questions, find out what their plans are, maybe even help us infiltrate a meeting. At the very least firing her now, a month after Sava's place burned down could look suspicious and random."

"What can I do?" Meredith asked.

"You can help?" Mara blurted out. Meredith was under the thumb of her grandmothers, usually she was the most reserved.

"The selkie elders want me to look into it more. The mermish council is unwilling to act, and to add insult to injury they refused to believe the testimony of the selkie who found the rune. My grandmothers are disturbed and confused by their actions or rather lack thereof."

"In other words, something smells fishy?" Vincent joked. No one laughed.

"Anyway," Vincent continued awkwardly, "you can probably start spreading the Diellor involvement around. See if you can get some of your community riled up, if that sounds alright."

"So it this all we're doing?" Mara asked.

"Well I say Vincent's plan is a good start" Sava replied. "Mara can question the girl about the Kinship of Diellor's activities. If you can get yourself invited to a meeting, perhaps the two of you can go, and sneak Meredith in. I will continue to rebuild, but I'll keep my ear in the gray and black markets to see if they try to interfere with trade."

"And I'll talk to the elders about what more we can be doing. I'm sure that the Kelpies and others do not appreciate their hunting grounds being encroached upon." Meredith added.

"It's a start." Vincent agreed.

Everyone stood up and began preparing themselves to leave. Sava and Meredith were first out the door, and Mara was not close behind when she felt Vincent's hand on her shoulder.

"If you have a minute," Vincent said softly in her ear, "I'd like to show you something.