[AuroraSky]

A minute later, they still hadn't composed themselves, and Arcane was once again losing her patience. "Are you two finished?" She snapped, her jaw clenching. When she had first left the swamp, she had been so excited to relay the new information to her comrades. What a mistake that had been.

Tati was the first to start to pull herself together. "I'm, I'm sorry Arcane but honestly." She said, her cheeks flushed red against her dark skin. "Are you fucking serious? Please tell me that this is some sort of joke." She asked, shaking her head. Constance began to breathe normally again two, her mascara running down her cheeks. She quickly wiped it away.

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"No, it's not some sort of joke, you asshole." Arcane answered, her voice almost at a whine. "I went to see the Voodoo Queen and-"

"Marie Laveau is a quack." Tati cut in, her gleeful expression turned impatient. "She's a crazy old woman who's spent too much time inhaling swamp fumes, and all you did was waste your time and compromise our mission." She said firmly. Constance, seeing the ridicule was over, quickly regained her own composure as well, making her way to the mirror to reorganize her makeup. "Honestly, Arcane. How stupid can you be?" Tati demanded.

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Hearing Tati talk about Marie Laveau that way made Arcane's blood boil. Marie, though suspicious and secretive, had done her best to help Arcane. And when Arcane did finally rid Evelon of Seeksoul (and Arcane was planning to rid Evelon of Seeksoul) it would all be thanks to the Voodoo Queen. "Don't talk about her like that." Arcane demanded, narrowing her eyes. "Marie Laveau is a good woman."

Tati rolled her eyes. "Right. Wouldn't want to old bat to turn me into a frog or stick a doll of me with pins, now would I?" She asked Arcane condescendingly. She pushed the map back in front of her and began working on it again, signaling to Arcane that the conversation was very much over.

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Knowing Marie Laveau, Arcane was sure the Voodoo Queen would have no trouble doing either of those things. She glanced towards Constance, who was hastily reapplying her eyeliner. "Constance, help me out here. Your people believe in all that magic junk, don't they?"

Constance gave her an annoyed look in the mirror, and went back to her makeup. "Yes, my family and plenty of Columbians believe in that 'magic junk'." She said, wiping under her eyes and picking up her powder. "But after everything that I've done for the agency, I no longer place my faith in magic. I place it in the gun in my hand."

"Exactly." Tati added, nodding approvingly.

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"Then why do you wear that cross around your neck?" Arcane asked accusingly.

Constance rolled her eyes. "Is a family heirloom, Arcane." She answered, freshening up her lipstick. "I wear it because it links me to my family. Not because I believe that Jesus gives a shit about me." She blotted her lips until her face was once again restored to its pretty perfection. "You were never even the type to believe in all that stuff anyway." She turned around to lean against the end table. "How did you end up going to see Marie Laveau in the first place?"

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Arcane sat back in her seat, not even wanting to discuss the matter anymore. But then again, she had gone all the way out in the fucking swamps to get the information she had, and as far as she knew it was sound. So why shouldn't Tati and Constance at least hear what she had to say? "I don't know, Constance, maybe out of desperation." Arcane confessed with a shrug. "I mean, let's look at the facts. Seeksoul had been running loose through Skytaen, the Count is stationed up somewhere working on some evil master plan, and what do we have?" Arcane stood up, looking at Tati, who was skillfully trying to ignore her. "We have nothing."

"Nothing." Arcane repeated. "No, instead we're just here, taking other stupid jobs like infiltrating army bases," Arcane ripped the map from under Tati's arms, and the older women tensed hard. "Like we're little cavalrymen. It's pathetic."

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"Well we can't all have jobs as glamorous as swamp diving, now can we?" Tati answered coldly, standing up to snatch the map out of Arcane's hands. "Unlike you, Arcane, Constance and I don't question the orders of Command. We accept and we executed. Two simple steps. So while this job may seem so simpleminded and such a waste of time, Command clearly sees the potential in it."

"And just what might that be?" Arcane demanded, resting her hands on her hips. Constance fluffed her hair in the mirror then turned to face Arcane. "Who knows?" She asked with a shrug. "But we do it anyway. But we're not fighting about the mission right now. I want to know what valuable information that this voodoo queen gave you."

Well, Constance wasn't exactly excited, but at least she was actually willing to listen. "Well-"

"No." Tati interrupted.

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[AuroraSky]

Arcane could feel her rage pent up inside of her, but knew that she was running out of chances with Tati. So instead, Arcane just kept her focus on Constance. If Tati really was so against the information that Arcane had to share then she could find somewhere else to fucking go, now couldn't she? "Seeksoul isn't the assassin's name." Arcane began. "It's his species."

Constance stared at Arcane, hard and unmoving. For a moment, Arcane feared she had lost her, but then Constance slid out the stool next to Tati and took a seat. Arcane took that as a sign to go on. "A Seeksoul is an assassin spirit. A demon from hell. And Seeksoul's aren't just hanging around the place, you have to summon them."

"So you're saying the guy we've been hunting is a ghost?" Constance asked, and Arcane could feel her disbelief.

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But Arcane wasn't willing to give up just yet. "Not a ghost, a demon." She corrected impatiently. "And he was summoned by Lord Caligula for the sole purpose of executing the Archduke." Arcane paused. "And I guess maybe his family too...we can't really be sure." To Arcane's surprise, that last bit seemed to get Tati's attention just slightly. Arcane could practically see her ears prick up from under her hair.

Constance seemed to feel the same. "So you think...the Seeksoul is after the Archduke, the Archduchess and Cecelia and Martin?" Arcane didn't know she knew them by name, but ignored that. "Like I said, I can't be sure. He hasn't made an attempt on them yet, has he?"

"No." Constance answered. "We've been their security detail. Us and ton of other soldiers. The Archduke and Archduchess have been taking serious precautions with them."

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"So then there's no way to know for sure." Arcane confirmed. Constance was quiet for a while. "Fine, say, and I'm not for a second telling you I believe in the stories some swamp woman told you," Constance said, leaning forward a bit. "Say this is all true. Seeksoul is a...Seeksoul, and he's really a demon from hell." Tati snorted beside her, and Constance shot her a quick look out of the corner of her eye. "How the fuck are we supposed to fight a demon? With silver bullets?"

"That's a werewolf." Arcane said immediately, then regretted it. She cleared her throat. "Demons can't be killed, because they don't have souls. We would have to banish him."

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"Oh really?" Tati injected then, slapping her pen on the table and giving Arcane a condescendingly teasing look. "We're just supposed to banish him. And how the fuck are we supposed to do that? Pour a ring of salt around him? Light some candles?" She stepped away from the table. "Do a little chant, and then a dance to go with it? Is that what you need from us?"

Arcane narrowed her eyes, not enjoying Tati's mockery. "No Tati, we don't have to do that. We just have to-"

"Perform an exorcism, is that what you're going to say?" Tati gave a hollow chuckle. "Hey Constance, why don't you dial up the local priest? Tell him we have a job for him." Constance could feel the tension mounting again, and uttered a low, "Enough, Tati."

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