Hashing out the details of Dee's involvement had ended up being a far quicker conversation than Henry had anticipated. He'd been expecting a quick talk about general strategy, on how to best get animated skeletons to the Mad Prince's webs in significant numbers as quickly as possible. Instead, what he was still in the process of getting was…

"Now, I get it, there's something classic about the traditional design," Dee nattered on just behind him and Enrico. "And it's a staple for a good reason! But, you gotta understand, sticking to just the tried and true is only going to limit creativity in the long run. You gotta be willing to experiment! Branch out, try something crazy and new, just bloody send it! Otherwise-"

"Dee, I think it's great that you're really looking forward to helping us," Enrico interjected with a polite tone. "But can we pick up this conversation after we get off the roads? We're already overt enough as it is."

The interruption left a look of genuine confusion on his face, like he hadn't even considered that as a possibility. "Overt?" he asked. "What about this is overt?"

"Well, for one," Henry decided to chime in, "The army of skeletons acting as bodyguards is rather hard to miss. Not to mention the palanquin is a pretty dead giveaway."

The synchronized clattering of bones around them seemed to heighten in volume to prove his point. Marching in perfect lockstep, ranks of skeletons surrounded them from all sides, forming a perimeter around them at least several dozen figures deep in each direction. And, at the center of it all, the two of them walked aside an amalgam of bones designed to look uncannily similar to the raised thrones that one might see royalty parading around in. A dozen lifeless servants propelled it forward, carrying the heavy burden over their shoulders with obedience characteristic of the automatons they were.

Dee peered around at the procession, his expressions betraying the fact that pointing out those details was only leaving him even more befuddled.

"I always travel like this…" he answered, as if that explained anything.

"He really does," Giselle confirmed from the throne adjacent. Unlike his, her seat was adorned with several plush black velvet cushions adorned with frills. "The whole process he used to plan it out was pretty funny, too."

Underneath all that makeup, Dee maybe blushed a little. "I… just needed something for the road trips…"

Henry half listened to the words, but for the most part his attention was far away from the two's crushing on each other. He was instead preoccupied with making sure that none of the vampires currently circling around like vultures decided to try something foolish. They still had a rather significant walk ahead of them before they made it back to the warehouse that Martin and the rest were holed up in. And at the end of that, a long and lengthy debriefing session with plenty of new additions that the commanding Fire mage would want to know about.

His gaze lingered on the skeleton army, just for a moment. Plenty of new additions.

Truthfully, as macabre as the skeletons might be, they'd be an excellent help in maintaining a safe perimeter with just their numbers alone. Add onto that fact that the one controlling them was within spitting distance along with being aligned with their cause, and with any luck the mages would find themselves able to ease up a bit on the high state of vigilance they'd been maintaining since the lone werewolf encounter.

For those reasons and more, they'd decided to return to the warehouse first. That decision did, however, leave him the problem of how he was going to pick up Robb from Little Henwood on the way back. As it stood right now, if they tried any sort of meetup it could end up being a dead giveaway for the main hideout of the Reformationists.

While he pondered, Enrico tried to drum up some friendly chatter with their new allies. Ever the extrovert, apparently, though in fairness perhaps he was just trying to bury the hatchet before it got raised against him.

"So, this… mount of yours is a design you made yourself? It's quite… well, it's certainly the most ostentatious method of travel I've seen, I must say."

Dee looked around at his ride in a panic at first, seemingly worried that there was something wrong with it. When he realized that nothing seemed to be out of place, he relaxed slightly, but clearly was grasping at straws a bit on how to respond.

"Well, uh… thank you! Dunno what that word means exactly, but it sounds about right… I think. I spared no expense making it. Highly customizeable, and able to reach a top speed of 50 kilometers an hour, even with the state of the roads these days!"

"That fast?!" Enrico blurted incredulously. Henry chuckled to himself. What had once been known as the speed limit was considered fast, nowadays. Funnier still was that it was an accurate statement. On roads where even the vehicles needed to be wary of their surroundings, the standards for that measurement had been sliding slowly and steadily for a while now.

"Well, if that's the case, we might as well hop on and ride with you. Can you make room for a few more?"

Dee blinked, staring back at Enrico like he'd just said he'd arrived from Mars.

"…It's a two seater," he stated as a matter of fact.

Giselle rolled her eyes at the silly response, a tiny smirk tugging at the corners of her face as she watched it all unfold. He had to imagine she was the one suggesting most of the customizations.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

They rounded a corner, passing by an alleyway with no coverage from the still circling vamps above. The perfect place for him to make his move, he decided. The crystal in his chest flashed briefly, and a similar light popped out for a brief moment within the gloom of the alleyway. The copy that materialized inside nodded once, before blending into the mist and breaking away towards the hidden sewer entrance closest to their current location.

"What was that about?" Dee asked, curiosity piqued at the sudden light show. "Wait, was that the thing that you got when you became a Devil? What's it do?"

Henry pulled a face. Suddenly being interrogated was likely inevitable from the start with how much Dee liked to prattle on about random topics, but that didn't make things any more comfortable for him. He'd pretty much exclusively survived by keeping his cards close to his chest during his time on his own. To suddenly change that now…?

"Oh, come on, no need to pipe down now!" Dee responded to his continued silence. "Just saying the basics won't hurt, can it? I mean, you already know what my Domain does, so fair's only fair at this point, right?"

"I'm not sure…" he tried to say dismissively.

"pleasepleasepleasepleaseplease-"

"Oh, bloody hell, fine. I make duplicates. That's pretty much all there is to it anyways."

"See? There you go! Not only was that not so hard, that's also a really cool power to have! Am I right, or am I right?"

Giselle hummed a bit in response, cocking her head to the side as she pondered. The fake demon horns nearly poked Dee in the face, much to his dismay, but there seemed to be no indication that she was aware of what she was doing.

Or, maybe she was, and this was just her way of messing with him.

"It depends…" she drawled out, softly humming again in consideration. "Can you just keep making them?"

"Not really," he admitted. "Past a certain number active, that's it. Can't make any more."

"...Huh." Giselle paused, expecting him to expound on it further only to be met with silence. He felt absolutely no reason to dig deeper into his limitations, and he hadn't been asked another question, anyways.

He kept walking. The palanquin kept following. And when it became undeniably apparent he wasn't going to offer anything up, she started fishing again.

"...Care to elaborate further?"

Henry shrugged. "Trust is a two way street. And I really don't know much about you past what Dee's volunteered. If you want me to talk, you'll need to do some talking yourself."

"Eh, fair, I suppose." She adjusted herself to get comfortable in her already comfortable seat, crossing her legs and leaning back to stare at the sky. "But I retain the right to skip the sob story."

"That's fine," he agreed. "Almost always ends up being the same thing, considering the circumstances of the first Witching Hour."

"Almost always?"

"I listen to a lot of people unwind. Prior bartender."

"No shit? How'd you manage to make it out of a pub alive that night?"

"Luck and a lot of personal disregard. But enough about me. What I want to know is, how'd the two of you end up together?"

"Now that is an interesting story," she grinned. "Glad you asked, honestly. There was a whole chase and everything."

"A chase? As in, Dee chased you down?"

"No, as in he somehow managed to steal me from under the noses of much worse company, and they chased him."

"It wasn't stealing!!" Dee responded testily. "It was a rescue! And besides, those thugs from the Gentleman's Club had it coming for a long time!"

"Uh-huh. Because a rescue involves busting the wall down, using a swarm of skeletons to crowd-surf me out of said hole in the wall, and then dragging us both below the earth in your, and I quote, 'Hellevator' until such a time as you thought to move it somewhere where the coast was clear."

"Geez, I didn't know it was a crime to make a dramatic entrance!"

Giselle laughed. "Well, if there's one thing you know how to do, its keep things from getting boring."

She gave him a playful swat, before looking out over the ranks of footsoldiers in front of them with an expression of fond reminiscence. As much as she played hard to get, it was clear that they at least enjoyed each other's company. It was a strange relationship, to be sure, but at least it was a working one.

He'd have to get back in touch with Layla at some point, now that his mind was on the subj-

"Wait… what's that?"

Giselle's smile turned into a frown as she pointed out something in the far distance. Henry saw it too, just a split second after her outstretched finger indicated the direction. In the haze, past the skeletons, there was some sort of… misshapen figure bearing down on their position rapidly. Far too rapidly to be anything he could recognize, that was for certain. It wasn't until the fog split apart like paper under a knife that he got a good look at exactly what – or, rather, who – was approaching them.

Skeleton after skeleton toppled as the lone figure trampled everything in the way. A black cloak billowed over her shoulders as she moved at supernatural speeds, hood whipping back behind her as it became obvious that it was not one figure, but two.

As it turned out, it was Grace, of all people. Out of her room for once and bounding down the street in a dead sprint. Each of her steps was practically a flying leap by his own standards, and she managed it all while carrying the much larger prone form of Robb over her shoulder like a sack of potatoes.

As she skidded to a halt in front of them, the former radio host fell out of her grasp and onto the ground with a groan. He looked paler than usual, and was clutching a hand to his neck as his face contorted in pain. The four of them who had seen her approach were greatly confused as to what had happened to him, until Grace finished dusting herself off long enough to explain.

"Idiot managed to get himself bitten by a patrol while trying to rush back," she said gloomily. "He's lucky to be alive. If your copy hadn't shown up just a minute ago, he'd have been a goner for certain."

Henry's mind swam with questions. But, he settled on just two. "Why'd he try to go back without an escort? Also, you got him out of there and to us in a minute?"

"I'm working off fresh blood jitters, okay? Besides, for once I have an outlet to put them to good use. He ran off because we saw your friends are under attack by vamps from the western thrall-camp through the cameras."

Henry's body temp plunged to what felt like hypothermic conditions at the reveal of the news. He sprang into immediate action, lifting Robb to his feet quickly while pulling a roll of gauze from his satchel. As he dressed the twin puncture wounds on his neck as best he could, he addressed Dee in as urgent a tone as he could muster.

"I know you only signed up for the rescue mission, but your help would be very much appreciated right now," he ground out, not caring particularly about being polite when it might detract from getting a solution. Dee opened up his mouth to respond immediately, then paused, picking up on his tone at the last moment. Once he'd properly thought his next words through, he made his list of conditions mercifully brief.

"I'll help out," he readily agreed. "But in exchange you're bringing me on your next artifact hunt. I've got to work on completing a set, now that I know you're grabbing the good stuff."

"You're lucky I'm not in a position to argue too much," Henry griped. "You've got a deal."

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