“You can do it Marvin. It’s tough now, but you can win! God that sounded cheesier than I thought. Still, I didn’t train you so you could fall at the first obstacle, did I?” asked Kara’s voice in his head

He found himself in the middle of pure nothingness, this question echoing around it.

“Kara? What’s this?” asked Marvin-or more accurately Marvin thought about asking.

“I used the same magic Ava did to contact you, pretty difficult to accomplish, so we won’t have many more chances like this. Right now you are passed out, which leaves your mind wide open. We’re going to have to fix that going forward.”

“The last lesson we did before we found out about the mission. Outside the school was a vampire-he was-he knew things about me, he said he was behind the mission. He radiated power, I don’t know how to explain it.”

“I do. And you are right to be afraid. But you can trust them Marvin. Trust your friends and get out of the Caelum Terra quickly. There are too many eyes there. Don’t lose sight of your goal.”

Suddenly Marvin found himself awake, kneeling in front of the beast man they had barely defeated and his friends were all looking at him with various degrees of shock and disbelief, anger and many other emotions. Marly and Adam had kneeled next to him, while CB was looking down at him.

For a moment, a heartwarming, blissful moment, he had forgotten where he was, but it all came rushing back to him.

Marvin always thought of himself as a person who thought things through. In the past couple of months this notion has been challenged more than once. And now, due to his mistakes, they had nearly played into Amdis’s trap. Hell, for all he knew they were still playing right into his hands. Everyone was counting on him to lead them to Ava, complete the mission, and he failed them.

“You scared us for a minute, small fella.” began Adam after a tense silence. “You also dropped a pretty big bombshell. We’re going to need a bit more thorough explanation my man. Just-just go back to the beginning.”

“There’s no time! I messed up, and we almost fell into his trap. If we aren’t careful this whole thing will be over before it’s even begun! I’ll explain, but right here, right now we can’t trust anyone, and for the love of God we must run!” He was being overdramatic, he knew.

Freaking out was not helpful. He needed to stay calm.Besides, he only had one interaction with the vampire known as Amdis, and had no actual way to connect him to this attack. Still, if there was even the smallest chance that this was all part of Amdis’s plan, Marvin wasn’t willing to risk it.

“You aren’t making any sense. I knew there was something up with you! Pull yourself together!” snapped CB, grabbing Marvin by the collar. There was still a-quite smaller-crowd of people around them, and the dark haired teen didn’t want to say anything in such a public place. Hey may be blaming himself as well, but he won’t take something like this. Not now. They didn’t have time. Before any words could be exchanged between them however, Marly placed her hands on CB’s arm drawing his attention.

“Not here. We need to go somewhere private.”she told him while eyeing the various people around them. Growling CB dropped Marvin, as the two stared at each other for a few seconds.

“Thanks.” said Marvin as Marly helped him up.

“Don’t thank me yet. You’ve kept a lot of secrets thus far. You better come clean.” she replied curtly. Marvin frowned at this. His stupidity and overcautiousness could now cost him the first chance he had at making friends in a long time.

“I-I just-”

“Marvin, it’s okay. Our tickets were also enough for a way out, so we’ll continue this at your aunt’s place.” reassured Adam. “We’re still going there right?”

“Yeah.” nodded Marvin.

“Good. Our tickets will take us to the prewritten destination that they had. Next stop: Marvin’s old hometown.”

--

“This isn’t good.” stated Kara, pacing back and forth in the large office space they were in.

“What do you mean?”

“A few hours ago our wonderful quartet faced off against a Vampiric Minotaur while we’re here. And he ran into a vampire? What do you think I mean?” responded Kara sarcastically.

“They’ll be fine. They might have some heat on them for a while, but it’s going to go away quickly since it attacked them, and they were on an official mission. As for the vampire they know to call us if something like that appears.”

“Still, I don’t like this.”

If he was being honest, neither did Eobard. He had been in Atlanta for only one day and the first night there was spent in this place. This wasn’t what he was expecting. He, alongside Kara, were both invited to one of the many office buildings controlled by the Association. The term ‘invited’ was used pretty loosely here. Fact of the matter was they weren’t exactly in a position to refuse. In the political and bureaucratic hellhole they called a peacekeeping organisation, you needed to know to pick your battles.

The room they were in was quite large, with a window overlooking the vast cityscape, and with a painting depicting a human surrounded by a werewolf and a dhampir decorating the wall behind the desk. Only two hundred and fifty copies have been painted. For someone to have one, it was a show of power and influence for those who were summoned there. And on that day, those people were Eobard Kon and Kara Snow.

“We’re dealing with someone powerful. Be careful of what you say.”

“You’re not exactly in a position to say that you know. Considering what happened with Chiron the last time you spoke to him, I have the sneaking suspicion you aren’t the best diplomat.” she shot back, smiling at him in spite of his words. She did have a point, but for a situation like this, Eobard would like to believe that he was capable enough to summon a more nuanced version of himself.

The door of the office opened, revealing a tall man with gaying blond hair and goatee in an expensive looking suit. His light blue eyes had bags under them and he had a general aura of tiredness around him. Eobard and Kara both stood in attention as he entered the room and sat behind his desk.

“Sit down, please.” he suggested, pointing to two seats in front of the desk. “Eobard Kon and Kara Snow, correct?”

Sitting down the two nodded at his question.

“James Mallory, Rank One Commander. Grandfather of Marly Mallory. Speaking of whom, care to explain to me why she is currently under investigation for assisting in the burning of a man in the Caelum Terra? What kind of delinquents do you have her partnered with?” So that’s why they were there. Eobard had heard of James Mallory only through passing mentions. Head of the Mallory household and one of the most influential personalities in the Association. And he was looking to make them sure his kin were safe. And from that ‘delinquent’ comment Eobard would guess that he was willing to let others take the fall.

“With all due respect, sir, your granddaughter doesn’t have the ability to burn a man alive.” responded Kara, a comment that appeared to have no purpose other than to goad James Mallory.

“I’m not in the mood for games Miss Snow.” shot back the Mallory Patriarch. “I know that she’s with your apprentice and two others. That they were defending themselves. I know why she’s there. And I want Ava’s rescue more than you both combined, trust me on that. Which is why I’ll let your little mockery of an operation continue. And why I will intervene if the need arises. If my family gets hurt, it will be both your heads and the heads of those three brats on the table. Am I understood?”

A show of power.

If Eobard were to guess, Chiron was the one who spilled this information. Still, the man didn’t mention anything regarding the vampiric forces Kara felt behind this. Although based on James’s behaviour thus far, if he were aware, he would move heaven and earth to stop this mission. This way they would get the job done while also having someone monitoring them. That damn centaur played Eobard like a fiddle.

‘This is bigger than you. Accept that fact.’ That’s what Chiron had told him. In a way, Eobard could understand where Chiron’s heart was. They had strong reasons to suspect vampires were behind this whole thing. There was a good chance that they were heading into a trap. Someone high profile like James Mallory would be able to mobilize enough forces to fight against them in that case. The downside of that option was the massive destruction would be caused by the clash of the two forces. Said clash could be avoided this time however. Not dissimilar to the original plan, but this time the power laid on entirely on Chiron.

And there wasn’t much Eobard and Kara could do to stop that right now.

“I assume that you will use your connections to have their names cleared faster than normal.”

“Indeed Eobard Kon. I told you your little operation will be allowed to continue. Don’t misunderstand me, I have a great deal of respect for both your accomplishments, and Chiron is a longtime ally, which is why I am so lenient. Now I need to rest, so I must ask you to leave.” He spoke neutrally, but Eobard could see that the man was no fool. Then again, neither was Eobard.

“Chiron didn’t give you all of the information.” he stated, gaining a small satisfaction at the man’s widening eyes. “You overplayed your hand in your overconfidence. Let me tell you how this is going to go. We are going to continue with our mission because the only person capable of leading it is loyal to us, and he isn’t going to trust you. We appreciate you coming all the way to Georgia, but let’s not make this more complicated than it needs to be. The new generation will handle this, and call us. And then we will call you if you are needed.”

James Mallory sighed. Looking at him hunched in his seat, rubbing his eyes under the room’s lighting, he looked much more tired and older than when he entered the room just a few minutes ago. It was enough to make Eobard feel sorry for him. Unfortunately he couldn’t back down now.

“I’ve just returned from spending thirteen hours leading a battle all the way in Siberia. I barely had time to change and come here. As I told you before, I'm not in the mood to play games. Bring Ava back. Bring Marly back. Let’s agree on that and leave the nonsense for another time. Now please, for the love of the founder, let this old man rest for a bit.” Eobard and Kara both nodded leaving the office.

Walking down night time Atlanta was quieter than Eobard expected. Then again it was still early-relatively speaking. In spite of the jetlag and interaction with James Mallory, he was enjoying this.

“This whole mission is off to an interesting start..” began Kara with uncertainty.

“What do you mean?”

“I think you know.” she responded. And he did. Everything regarding this mission seemed to go perfectly. Even with Chiron and James Mallory, there wasn’t any sensible threat. The beast that the Any forces beyond the understanding of the students would be handled by IDA-no matter how much Eobard hated that. Even if they decided to take matters in their own hands the lighter given to Marvin was trackable by Kara. If the boy was in danger she would know and get there in the span of a second. At least that’s what she told him.

“This is the only path in front of us. The only other course is inaction and our defeat is guaranteed then. Still, we can beat them at their own game. It won't be easy, but I'm certain of it.”

“You’re full of surprises today.” laughed Kara. “How about we have a drink on grasping victory out of a dire situation?”

“Looks like I’m not the only one full of surprises.” smiled Eobard. The day of crisis will come, but for now they could just enjoy whatever calm they had left.