Drika shot Vergil a slightly sour look at her admin’s statement, but didn’t contradict him. Clearly she would have wished to phrase it more diplomatically while asking for the shifters to surrender a shifter death mage who wasn’t even a criminal.

Vera’s face went immediately to the polite neutral of an unhappy diplomat trying not to reveal inconvenient first reactions. Quinn wasn’t entirely sure what that first reaction would have been. Vera disliked Riordan for some reason that involved shifter politics. He’d heard that Riordan had been an exile, which Quinn hadn’t even really known was a thing, but that the Sleeping Bear’s greater spirit had judged him and removed the mark. That was supposed to mean that Riordan had paid for whatever he’d done to earn it in the first place, but Quinn knew it wasn’t that easy to accept emotionally.

Any criminal system that focused on punishment instead of rehabilitation was highly flawed. The concept was that once the punishment was completed, whether that was a prison sentence or a fine or exile or whatever, then the previous crime should be forgotten. But it never worked that way. The criminal paid for the crime and then kept right on paying because people weren’t ready to forgive and forget, which often limited the opportunities of the criminal upon attempted reintegration with society and could lead to them having to resort to crime again to survive, which was a nasty vicious cycle and Quinn hated everything about it.

The point was that Vera treated Riordan as a criminal and an outsider, despite the blessing and forgiveness he’d received from Mother Bear. Heck, Mother Bear was the one who had granted Riordan his spirit affinity as part of healing damage to his soul, which meant it believed Riordan needed to be a shaman. Shaman were very important in shifter culture, since they were the most common form of active mage among the usually passively magical shifters. They also served as bridgeways to the spirits that the shifters typically formed their packs around.

Quinn realized he was mentally panicking, which explained his thoughts racing in every direction like a frantic chicken. He knew that the department were going to mess with Riordan. He knew it. And somehow, it still took him off guard when it happened.

“Riordan Kincaid will not be remanded to your custody,” Vera said flatly. “He is a shifter and not a threat. My pack will handle any issues related to him.”

“Legally, all death mages are classified as threats,” Vergil pressed, dissatisfied with this answer. “They can’t stop themselves from using their powers further and becoming increasingly corrupt and unstable. They need constant supervision and magical restraints, if they are allowed any freedom. And that’s assuming they haven’t gone completely mad already.”

Vera leaned forward, placing her palms flat on the table and met Vergil’s eyes with a stare that made Quinn shiver. “Riordan Kincaid is the responsibility of my pack. We will handle all issues related to him. I am aware of the relevant laws.”

“The laws state that you are supposed to turn death mages over to the magical authorities,” Vergil whined. He clearly either didn’t understand the threats Vera was silently making or he was made of sterner stuff than Quinn expected.

“Are you questioning the local sovereignty of my pack?” Vera’s voice was chill as ice and just as lethal now.

Drika stepped in at this point before Vergil could dig a whole deep enough to bury all of them. “Of course not, Pack Leader Hunt,” she said with a disarming smile. “Vergil is only trying to make sure that all requirements are met for the different elements of this situation. I’m sure that he can submit that your pack has it handled, though we would like to know any details you are willing to share, both for reassurance and for clarity. It was my understanding that Riordan Kincaid was heavily involved in both bringing the death mages to our attention and in the capture of them.”

Vera studied Drika cooly, as if trying to decide if Drika, and thereby the entire Department of Magic, deserved her forgiveness and cooperation. Quinn shrank back, trying to make himself smaller lest he draw either formidable woman’s attention, but it only seemed to make things worse. He froze as Vera’s eyes flickered over to him. And then, strangely, she looked to Frankie.

The head shaman was the most relaxed person in the room, acting as if she was unaware that everyone seemed on the edge of conflict. Instead, the eccentric old woman just sat spinning a little metal loop between her fingers as a fidget toy.

Only, that loop felt… weird. Quinn realized it had to be a charm for some manner of spirit magic and winced again. He’d seen her fight a death mage in the middle of a free-for-all and that had been in their territory. Here, in the heart of the pack, Quinn was all the more determined not to see what Frankie might do.

“Riordan,” Frankie began genially, still affecting complete relaxation, “is my student now. I assure you he will not be a threat under my care.”

“You’re teaching a death mage?” Xavier asked, the words slipping out in surprise. He blushed, clearly having meant to keep that thought to himself.

“I am teaching a shaman,” Frankie replied, offering a shark-like grin of her own. “His other affinities shall be addressed, but it will be as part of his role as a shaman for the shifter packs. Whatever legal authority your bureaucracy might possess, you have no right to interfere with the matters of shaman.”

Silence fell again. When Drika next spoke, it was to change the subject.

“We will need to search all known sites related to the cult and clear each for lingering magic. We will also need to clear any members of the organization in the same manner. Additionally, we have concerns about how these death mages were able to operate at such a skilled level so quickly, so any documents or resources that might indicate how they learned their magic is of priority.”

Quinn tried very hard not to squirm at that comment. He didn’t know how these death mages had gotten their magical education, but they were decidedly educated. And they weren’t working off some ancient forgotten information either.

During the course of the conflict, Phenalope, their leader, had used a technique Quinn had recognized as being the work of a death mage who specialized in modifying and manipulating ghosts. He had personally stopped that death mage, rescuing and recruiting the composite ghost Zeren in the process, and all relevant records of that mage’s methods were turned over to the department.

It was theoretically possible that the death mage himself had shared the techniques with some secret death mage organization, but Quinn had questioned Zeren about their creator and found no such link. Therefore, the most likely source of the technique would have been the very records that Quinn had submitted to his organization.

Was the leak of information accidental or deliberate? Was it the department itself or one of its allied organizations? Quinn had no idea how exactly their records were stored. That was deliberate on the part of the department, given Quinn was a risk factor. Whenever he finally went homicidally batshit, it would be best if he didn’t go resource shopping in the restricted and seized documents of the department.

In short, the department was fucked on some level and Quinn really hoped that this investigation showed how and where instead of sweeping it neatly under a rug.

He also had no idea who was trustworthy in this situation. Adam had been as surprised and concerned as Quinn himself, but beyond that? Quinn was kept separate from many of the department’s personnel and inner workings. He hadn’t even mentioned his concerns yet to anyone besides Adam and no one had approached him about it either.

“Working with the local law enforcement will provide you with the cleanest access and list of registered assets for the organizations and its members,” Vera replied to Drika, once more politely professional. “You will need to sweep the members’ houses as we have evidence of charmed objects being used to manipulate them. The example in question was a set of four statues of their ‘goddess in four parts’ that had some sort of manipulative effect on it.”

Drika looked grim at that information. It had been in the reports, but there was a lot of information in there and it likely got buried. She glanced at Xavier, fielding the issue to him as it was his area of concern.

“Do you have more information on those? I have the report from Agents Ahlgren and Morrish about the security spells on the main compound, but I must have missed the information about individual houses.” Xavier asked.

Frankie answered, “From the report, the statues were wrapped in death magic and reacted to the presence of a ghost by trapping it and glowing. The resident assumed this to be a divine message and left the residence to perform some sort of rank ceremony in response. The statues interacted with each other to create a field over the residence that had a mental effect, but the exact nature and purpose of the effect was unknown. Speculation included increased suggestibility, mood influencing, monitoring, or some combination of those or other effects. Death magic has more flexibility for imitating effects of other affinities, but it is always cruder in those effects unless combined with the specialized affinity.”

“Nasty stuff,” Xavier said, wrinkling his nose slightly in disgust. Quinn couldn’t decide if the disgust was in regards to the effect or the crudeness.

“Have you figured out a way to approach the ritual site reliably?” Adam cut in, surprising everyone. Adam wasn’t much for talking in large meetings like this, lurking like the magical sniper assassin he really was. Or perhaps a bodyguard, given his neat suit. Adam had a very men-in-black vibe, honestly.

Vera and Frankie exchanged another unreadable look, passing some thought via either familiarity or a telepathic pack bond. Reluctantly, Vera nodded. “Yes, we believe we have a method, though we have not yet tested it.”

“And what’s that?” Drika asked, arching a brow.

“Get permission from the greater spirit or follow someone who already has permission.”

Drika blinked. “How do we obtain permission? I thought the greater spirit wasn’t talking to anyone currently. I assume that’s why you haven’t tested it?”

“We haven’t tested it,” Frankie said with a snort, “because the only people currently with permission are Riordan Kincaid and Daniel Campbell, both of whom are dealing with personal trauma.”