“At present,” Vera began once everyone was ready, “we have custody of two living death mages and a corpse of a third. We also reported their cult for kidnapping and murder, resulting in a formal investigation by local law enforcement that Agent Ahlgren has been monitoring for us so far, since our usual liaison with the local police is currently indisposed.”

She glanced at Quinn at that last part, adding, “I do hope you have time to examine Billy again before you leave today.”

Quinn nodded. Billy Culver had been the shifter assigned to Adam and him during the initial investigation and he’d gotten caught by the death mages and hit with a really nasty compulsion spell. Quinn had been working on cleansing the effect out of his blood, where the magic had anchored, but it was a process and Billy considered himself still compromised.

“Is Ellis still watching over him?” Quinn asked, waiting for Vera’s nod for confirmation. “I’ll swing by after the meeting to check over them then.”

Ellis was Billy’s younger brother and one of the combatants from the mass brawl at the ritual site. He turned into one mean black bear when he shifted and guarded his brother like a mama bear with cubs.

Vera continued her presentation. “We had detained a significant portion of the cult for involvement in the ritual, but lack the legal or personnel resources to process them properly. An incident of this scale is beyond the ability of our limited contacts in the local sheriff’s offices to process, especially since the victims span several counties that are outside of pack lands. As such, there is a joint task force being formed to apprehend, question, and process everyone involved with the cult. Agent Ahlgren said you would be able to take over that task force before it stumbles on something too dangerous?”

She paused for verification. Vergil answered her this time. “We’ve submitted applications for jurisdiction. Given that the victims don’t only cross county lines but state lines, our federal mandate means it will be approved. It’s just a matter of how annoyed the locals are at our interference.”

“That shouldn’t be an issue,” Vera reassured him, “While our contacts are limited, our relationship with the law enforcement is very positive. We’ve managed to sway the general opinion that it’s for the best that outsiders are coming to assess this situation to make sure to separate the innocent from the guilty objectively and to get assistance for anyone who was exploited by the cult. Most of the members were originally victims of domestic abuse, after all. They are a highly vulnerable population, but also have to be protected from their previous abusers, which complicates the use of local personnel.”

Quinn grimaced at that. Vera was understating the issue, if anything. The cult only had three death mages, but it had tiers of knowledge, much like most publicly accessible cult. It was entirely possible that even the members who showed up to the ritual had no idea about the murders until that point. No one had tried to stop the ritual sacrifice attempt, but he also understood how hard it would have been for an emotionally abused cult member to try to stand up to their fellow cultists, especially when it would have likely just gotten them killed too.

Gods, Quinn hated cults. They fucked up their members so badly.

“That will help,” Vergil admitted reluctantly. “Regardless, we are meeting with the local law enforcement tomorrow and should be able to take over the task force then.”

“Handling the mundane witnesses and spinning what they saw are some of our top priorities,” Drika put in. “Our plan is to label it as a mass hallucination caused by drugs in the candles and incense and guided by the cult leader, which will account for the sudden berserk behavior that resulted in civilian casualties as well as any supernatural effects reported. It’s easy enough to sell when the dead mage, Penny Warren, claimed to be a prophet with divine magic and had been grooming her followers to believe that.”

Vera nodded, apparently satisfied with that PR spin. A good cover story did a lot to conceal magic as reality. It was amazing how much what was really needed to maintain secrecy was plausible deniability. Of course, the better the cover-up, the fewer weirdos showed up looking for aliens or ghosts or whatever, so it paid to at least try to contain everything neatly at the start.

Changing the subject slightly, Vera turned another question to Drika. “Will you be taking custody of the two death mages today? We have kept them from being legally detained for the moment. I assume you can claim to have detained and imprisoned them at a convenient point in the investigation if it becomes an issue.”

Xavier spoke up instead of Drika for that question, as it was part of his responsibilities. “We are set up to detain them. I have appropriate containment for magic-users prepared, both for transport and for longer term accommodations. We will keep them nearby during the investigation for questioning before transporting them to our prison facilities.”

“You will be imprisoning them then?” Frankie asked, frowning.

Quinn gathered that she had concerns. Well, that was fair. Prison wasn’t perfect and death mages were problematic. They were never going to get better than they were at that moment.

Xavier gave the shaman a charming smile. “Yes, Shaman, assuming the data in the reports is correct. The two detained death mages were in the early stages of corruption, yes? We like seeing if we can rehabilitate them to assist in dealing with future death mages, like Agent Morrish here, and if not, to provide humane solutions.”

Quinn rankled at being compared to Gloria and Helena. They had gotten into death magic willingly or at least profited from it. Quinn had been a victim who ended up accidentally choosing between becoming a death mage or dying in someone else’s attempt at death magic. To be treated equally made Quinn upset since, darn it, he wasn’t a criminal and hadn’t asked for this.

Not that he really regretted being a death mage. Being able to use magic for the greater good usually felt worth what was essentially a terminal disease in exchange.

Frankie frowned harder. “I suppose you have the means to assure that these women will be no further threat to anyone. Helena attacked my apprentices directly, as well as arranging the attack against my pack inside our territory. Gloria was responsible for the most manipulative policies of the cult and also was the one to trigger the berserking effect on the cultists, which resulted in deaths. These death mages aren’t harmless victims in this situation.”

See, that was what Quinn was talking about. He’d fought Gloria directly during the main fight while Frankie had been fighting Helena. Even then, taking the two down hadn’t gone smoothly. Gloria had prevented Quinn from taking Phenalope, aka Penny Warren, at the start of the ritual, even if it had cost Gloria a hand to do it. She was the weakest of the death mages, but in some ways, Gloria cared the least about whether someone else died. When Quinn had spoken to the women briefly after their capture and detainment, Helena had been devastated to learn Phenalope was dead.

Gloria had been minorly disappointed, much more concerned with the failure of the ritual itself.

In light of Frankie’s valid concerns, Xavier’s smile got turned up to maximum charm and he picked up his kit off the floor, opening it and spinning it around to face the head shaman. “I’m not sure how familiar you are with magical suppression restraints,” he began, “but I really do believe they will have trouble being a threat wearing these.”

Physically, the briefcase held handcuffs, collars, and bracelets. They were solidly constructed out of steel or something visually equivalent. The collars and bracelets were paired and numbered, all in a sleek simple design that struck Quinn as elegant. Magically, they were… much more. Quinn barely knew how to describe it.

Enchanting was a complex craft. Most mages could manage a crude version of it by wrapping a spell around the outside of an object. Those kinds of magic items were usually single-use consumable charms, like the ones Quinn used, or anchors for some ongoing spell. And if they were anchors, the spells needed to be recharged from the outside periodically or they gave out.

Real enchanting made objects that were actually independently magical. These restraints could be used over and over without needing a mage present, assuming the user knew how to trigger them. They essentially had their own personal well of power that drew in magic to keep their effects going. And if they got over used, it wouldn’t break the object. It would just not trigger the effect until the artifact recovered.

What was more, the effect was part of the object. To make items like this required casters with Essence and Material affinities. There were some rumors of a composite affinity of those types that made an Enchanting affinity, which was required to make actual capital-A Artifacts. Things like Excalibur or Mjolnir. Enchanted items that could change history. Quinn had no idea if that was true. No one living had that as far as Quinn knew. Even Material/Essence mages were rare enough.

Quinn had very little idea how people developed affinities, in truth. Such studies were the closely guarded secrets of the great mage houses. Clearly, spirits could grant affinities, though the cost was usually complex and very high. But otherwise, it was a matter of being born with it, which had a genetic factor. But some people inherited the dominant affinity in their bloodline, but also had another one or even more rarely two affinities. Or sometimes they were born with an entirely different affinity or no affinity at all. Perhaps he should look into genetics for the answer more than magic, but it still felt weird.

Especially since he’d gotten magic in the most commonly known method to gain an affinity. Because no one was born a death mage. Death magic belonged to those who stole it from others when they died. Except for Riordan.

Xavier pointed at the different items in the case. “The collars and bracelets are linked items. The collars go on the prisoner and suppress any active magic use. Passive effects such as shifter boosts can be shut down with further commands, but aren’t turned off automatically, since it can be psychologically very disruptive. They also make the wearer unable to take aggressive actions and they must follow orders from anyone wearing a keyed bracelet. The bracelets allow the wearer to issue orders, to know the location of the collar at all times, and to remotely render the collared unconscious in case of emergencies. The bracelets must be keyed to both the wearer and to any number of collars before they function. The handcuffs are physical suppressants and reinforce the effects of the collars, to make transportation even safer.”

Drika stopped Xavier before he could launch into further details. Xavier had the air of a technology nerd when it came to his enchanted goods and would talk the ear off of anyone who would listen, which wasn’t the best for classified information. He rolled his eyes at her, but snapped the case shut and sat back down.

“Are you satisfied?” Drika asked Frankie.

The old woman shrugged and looked at Vera, clearly fielding the question to the pack leader. Vera considered the case thoughtfully for a few seconds before saying, “I believe that your measures are superior to the resources my pack has for such situations. Once the death mages are remanded to your custody, I trust the department will follow all legal codes for these situations and act with the greater good in mind.”

Vergil smiled at that. “We take the laws very seriously, Pack Leader, as well as the safety of all our members. We would be remiss to not take proper precautions when handling death mages. As such, I am sure you understand that we are pledged to our duty in taking custody of all three death mages.”