Iron Station Savage Masks IC IV

[mmdeforrest]

November 1st
Rooftop, John and Raphael
“Unfortunately, John, we do not have any geneticists that I could call up here in Iron Station,” Mimi replies.

Stella arrives a little bit after Raphael. She pulls her jacket tighter around her as the wind blows a little, looking curiously at the two of them. “A secret rooftop meeting?” she asks as she moves to sit on the arm of the couch.

Part of John regretted not having made himself another cup of tea—the part of him that was in the here and now and wanted immediate gratification. He knew that it would be a bad idea to do so. He planned to excuse himself soon and leaving a dirty tea cup behind would nag at him, distracting him from the work he would be doing later.

A comforting warm beverage, however, would have been nice, given the conversation he was about to have—both as a comfort and as a prop.

“The three of us are supposed to be maintaining airs of mystery,” John replied to Stella as she sat down. “A secret meeting here and there adds to the effect.”

The smile disappeared from his face. “The first two items on the agenda will likely go quickly enough. Thanks to Mimi, although I played a small part in setting up the parameters, we have a decoded copy of Dr. Issac’s notebook. She can provide you with a copy of it, if you are curious. I’ve been glancing through it and it is slow going in places. My knowledge of alchemy helps some but that only gets me as far as Mendel before the sciences diverge so it may take me a day or two to get through all of his notes to make sure I’m not overlooking something important.

“Item two involves your curse, Stella. Although I am awaiting for clearance from Seraph, I may have to summon a demon, Zylas’ little sister Vrell, to be precise, sometime tomorrow morning. I didn’t want to accidentally trigger a painful episode for you—especially if their older brother, who may now be in league with our enemies, lashes out at me during the process. As such, it might be a good time for the two of you to take a walk or grab a cup of coffee or something.”

John paused and looked down before making sure that Raphael was close by. It was still strange for him to think of a vampire’s looming presence as being comforting and reassuring but, as he reminded himself, he was supposed to be supportive of others and had just casually mentioned summoning a demon child tomorrow morning.

“The third item,” he began as he looked up and into Stella’s eyes, “is more complicated and close to home.

“As you may recall, you met a young woman the other evening—Cassie Woods—at 5th Chapter the other evening. I feel confident that you recall her because of the sense of an immediate connection you felt with her.

“There’s a reason for that connection, Stella. She’s your biological sister.”

He paused for a brief moment before pressing ahead.

“Emi and I did a little research and were able to uncover some information. When your parents divorced, your father received custody of her and, in 2002, they moved north to a town about an hour south of Chicago, taking Callista—Cassie with him.

“Your father died in an automobile accident in 2004. Based on the police reports, it appears something spooked him and he swerved and ran off the road. His car fell down an embankment, rolled, and ended up in the river. His official cause of death was drowning.

“Cassie was assumed to have been ejected from the car because her body was never found. She somehow ended up adopted by a couple who own a restaurant in Piper City—a small town of about 1,000. She moved here on a whim a little while ago and has been taken under Feris’ wing since then.

“Someone above him knows more but that’s the kind of thing Raphael would know more about than I. Feris was told not to ask questions and I had pushed my luck enough by that point in the conversation to ask more.

“To the best of everyone’s knowledge, Cassie doesn’t know.”

John glanced up at Raphael before looking back to her. “I hope you can forgive me for my ongoing role of being the source of unexpected information about your personal life. Nevertheless, we thought you should know.”

As much as he wanted to say, ‘I’ll let the two of you talk,’ John knew he had to stick around long enough for Stella to ask him questions.