Alcohol & Economics - Ashes & Wine - Part 1

Dying was not an option. A simple enough theory- yet it never converted well into practice. Deceit swore under her breath, trying not to attract the attention of things that may or may not have been watching her. She gritted her teeth in frustration. If she managed to make it out of this mess alive, someone was losing their job- and quite possibly more. Jade was the first on her hit list.

What was supposed to have been a routine search and maim mission had become a matter of international security only moments after she’d arrived on scene. Thermonuclear weapons were easy to deal with, even in the hands of the Republic of Sirens’ higher faction. The Sirens targeting the Human population of Sicily through a plain overlap wasn’t exactly unusual either- there was always problems there- but the means were exceedingly rare. They were employing Harpy mercenaries, teamed with manticores.

Deceit opened her eyes tentatively, not that it made much of a difference. She couldn’t see much more than five feet in front of her at most, even with her enhanced night vision. There was nothing but uneven flagstone, and a dark mass at the far end of her field of vision. There must have been two dead at least, she guessed, trying not to gag on the smell of decaying flesh. Not too far away, the dark mass of something began to stir. Deceit tensed, bracing herself against any possible form of abuse headed her way.

A slow, steady thump-thump-thumping made itself clearly known. To her left, the thing managed to slowly drag itself into a sitting position against a stack of flagstones dangerously close to her. It was definitely male, if the broad shoulders and lean chest were anything to go by. Deceit could see bruising and an array of other wounds in various stages of healing dotting his exposed flesh from the close proximity. He hadn’t yet opened his eyes, but the redhead had obviously been there a week at least, if not longer. She was distracted for a second, as feeling slowly began returning to her hands- an intense, white hot burning starting at her bonded wrists.

‘Nylon,’ was Deceit’s first thought, as she bit back another curse. She had been allergic to nylon for as long as she could remember, and her captors apparently hadn’t come out of the Dark Ages to convert to plastic bindings.

“What do you mean there’s prisoners?” A door slammed somewhere ahead, causing both Deceit and the thing to shrink back almost instinctively. There were murmurs in reply- though in a language that Deceit was unlearned in. Sounds of movement drifted farther and farther away until disappearing completely with another echoing slam. Deceit began to struggle against her bindings hoping to find fault in the rope tying skills, however her efforts remained fruitless. Beside her, the redheaded thing groaned.

“Be quiet!” She whispered fiercely. The thing shuddered in response, as if only then realizing that he was not, in fact, as alone as he had previously thought. The steady thump-thump-thump rhythm increased into a sudden frenzy. ‘A heartbeat?’

Deceit froze, a mix of annoyance and fear creeping up her spine. ‘The only fucking race to have that tempo and not supposed to be on this side of the magical fucking boundary... why is there a sudden fucking influx of these fuckers.’ She now knew why that thing was so skittish, he was human, and humans don’t normally have to deal with fun things like Sirens and Harpies.

Humans weren’t supposed to be mixed up in dealings with creatures they deemed myths, fiction, bad bedtime stories. They were supposed to be the epitome of greed, destruction, squishy flesh with short life spans. The only things that were allowed to deal with humans were the dying breed of the Magi, and he most certainly wasn’t remotely close to Coven material.

Still, Deceit's morals were against her yet again. It was her job, as the Peace Adviser for the High Council, to remove those innocent from harms way regardless of their past exploits or race. She signed the contract, for Hanuman’s sake.As much as everyone knew the position itself was a joke- there had never been any real peace, nor would there ever be, the principles had still managed to leave their mark even when the rules had not.

“W-who are you?” The human had finally found his voice, and thankfully no more than a whisper of it.

“Deceit. What are you called?” Why was she offering this information freely? Deceit didn’t know, but this human could not have caused any amount of harm to fly in his current state.

“I-I... My name’s James Byrne-”

“Last names are unimportant,” Deceit said in a rush. “For future reference, I suggest you keep it to yourself. Now, where are we exactly?” She had not been able to figure out their location, or the time that had elapsed, only that she was nowhere near Tunis, Tunisia any longer.

“Patra, Greece?” The human- erm, James, responded.

“Fuck.” Deceit wasn’t exactly popular with the local Greek Councils, and this was going to create a problem. On top of the fact that she was now in a completely different country on a different continent. Today just was not shaping up to end well.

There was silence for awhile. James didn’t know if it was seconds or minutes that passed, only that it was long and the silence began to become uncomfortable. Every so often, he would flinch away from faint growling. Before he knew it, Deceit had begun to inch away from him, though he didn’t have time to do much more than notice it before an excessively large rat jumped into his lap. He was not quick enough to stifle a gasp, but as seconds inched by they both came to realize they drew no attention. The rat had an unusually fluffy tail and-

“Mou, you nearly gave me a heart attack.” Mou only meowed in response.

‘Our savior is a kitten? Great. We’re so dead.’ James thought bitterly. Mou bit his hand lightly in response, causing him to swallow back a cry of pain

.

“It’s her way of telling you that she’s in no way a kitten.” Deceit informed him, as Mou grew to the size of an Irish Settler right before James’ eyes. She cursed Mou’s lack of subtlety.

“W-what is that?!” He was beginning to panic now, that much was glaringly obvious. “She’s a genetically enhanced lynx-panther hybrid. Now calm down before you attract attention.” Mou had finished gnawing through Deceit’s nylon bindings, and once freed, she quickly untied James. Deceit then nodded to Mou, who changed back into her oversized rat form and scurried off into the darkness.

“W-what’re we going to do now?” James was in an unfamiliar place. He was cold, tired, and most certainly losing his mind. Maybe he would wake up from this odd nightmare any second...

“We are going to get of this mess.” Deceit deadpanned, as if that fact wasn’t obvious before. ‘Get captured, get thrown in a makeshift dungeon. Get unshackled, find a way out and don’t get dead. How is this not the first thing he came up with?’

“But what about-”

“I’ll explain everything once we’re safe.” Deceit informed him, dragging James to his feet. He nodded uncertainly.

‘I don’t exactly have any better options at this point...’

“Good,” Deceit nodded and lead the way toward what James hoped would be the surface. Deceit knew that more questions than answers were awaiting her return.