The Winged Seraphs II

The Timberwolves found us.

Evidently, they had started trailing us at some point. Either we've got a mole among us, or they've been trailing us for a while now, because they knew about the Caledon situation, and they weren't happy.

For once, I think I'd rather it be the latter option.

Let's back up.

The four of us were eating dinner at a fast food place when a bald, bearded man with the Archangel seal tattooed on his neck showed up at the table next to ours. To be perfectly honest, having the symbol of your group drawn on your skin with ink isn't exactly subtle. On the other hand, given his pointed glances at the four of us as we ate, I don't know if subtlety was his goal.

We finished eating quickly after he arrived. What little food we had left by that point, we trashed. Better to be hungry for a little while than to stick around for a fight with one of the Archangel's dogs. Perhaps unsurprisingly, though, the Timberwolf wasn't really interested in eating, and followed us outside shortly after we started to leave.

What a shame. I usually like eating the leftover fries, and they went totally to waste.

There were no other people in the parking lot by that point.

"You four. H—, I mean, and your little gang. Of course, my pal isn't with you anymore, but he didn't have to be for long, eh?"
"Who is this guy?" asked Giles.
"I think he's the partner of a guy who betrayed the Timberwolves," I replied.
"That's correct. My name is Triptolemus. I was assigned to Zagreus to keep him from doing to us what he'd already done to ARC, Eric's, eh, employers. By which I mean betray us. And now that's happened, and it's your fault, I'm a little upset with you guys."
"So, what is your plan, exactly?" asked Eric. "Other than just attacking a Runner, an ARC agent, a Nest, and a sorcerer, that is."
"Was that deliberately ranked in terms of least to most powerful, or was that a coincidence?" asked Kaden.
The three of us glared at him. He just raised his hands as if to surrender.
"Actually, no, I had no plans of attacking alone," said Triptolemus, completely ignoring Kaden. "Everybody, meet my friends Hecate, Acheron, and Melinoe. They're… what's the word… angels."
I didn't like where I was pretty sure this was going.

Three more Timberwolves stepped out of portals behind Triptolemus, apparently using some sort of domain-based transport. I took out my knife, Eric took out his gun, Giles called the birds, and Kaden summoned a ritualistic-looking dagger.

Triptolemus held out his hand before his Timberwolves could do anything. "Wait, friends. Perhaps we don't have to resolve this through violence. How about you just tell me where Eric here is keeping my buddy, and I tell my goons not to hurt you?"
Eric grimaced.
"I'll take that as a no?"
Eric, ordinarily so hygienic, spat on the ground.
"Hm. Playing hard to get, eh? That's alright. We can tango if you're looking to tango." He made a throat-slitting gesture and pointed at us.

It was barely a contest. Giles' birds mangled the Timberwolves, or at least Melinoe and Acheron. The difficulty was keeping the birds from killing them without making the birds angry at us. Kaden offered to summon birdseed, but Giles said the Convocation weren't interested in that now that they'd tasted blood. Thus, Kaden did the only sensible thing and summoned some more.

I suddenly don't want to know how Kaden's summoning works.

At any rate, that distracted the Convocation, but it also kept us from doing anything when Triptolemus opened a portal to Bliss and, along with his allies, escaped.

I think Kaden mentioned something about recognizing Triptolemus. That comment made a bit more sense when he explained that Triptolemus had met him when he was a Mountebank, meaning Triptolemus didn't recognize Kaden's face, voice, or name, and he'd also lied to him, meaning he had reason not to mention it earlier.

At any rate, that's another complication for us all to deal with. I'm torn between feeling glad that we escaped unharmed and horrified at what the Convocation did to the Timberwolves, even if I think they might still survive.

C'est la vie, I suppose.

- Poe