Chapter 2-59: We Are Coming... (2/2)

Sama let that hang in the air, and he finally spoke somewhat reluctantly. “We would owe you a favor.”

“A favor. For every item. And if it actually attracts trouble to me, a BIG Favor,” she corrected mildly.

He looked at the burning Spinechain again, and nodded slowly.

“Cool. Here’s my email contact. Let me know at least a day in advance, I’ll get back to you with a place to meet. Destroying one of these Damn Things takes a full eight hours. It doesn’t have to be all at once, but it can’t be shortened.” A business card flew out across the Forge, and the werewolf caught it deftly between two fingers.

“Email?” he asked softly.

“Not into tech? Me either. Notice, no phone. But it’s the best way to contact me otherwise.” She sniffed. “And if you drag trouble to me and don’t warn me, I’m going to be wroth.”

He grunted and put the card away in one of the leather pouches about his hips. “I will speak to my Pack about this matter.”

She waved it away. “No worries. If you don’t send any of that filth to me, I won’t mind at all.” He grunted again.

“So, tell me about some Creation myths or heroic tales or something that isn’t secret. Never hurts to spread your point of view, and like I said, I try not to judge intelligent people on what their parents did. If you want me to come around to the grudge-holding, chop-the-kids-of-the-guilty-party-with-them frame of mind, hey, I’m not hard to convince of returning asshattery with asshattery.”

He hummed deep in his throat, regarding me uncertainly. “Tales that are not secrets of my Pack, or of The People...”

Ah, yes, another divisive term. They were The People, and everyone else was less than them. She shook her head to herself derisively, allowing them to hold onto their delusions with everyone else, tilted her head, and listened to some of the tales of the personal mythology of these deluded werewolves that began to fall from his lips.

Learning how they thought would be a thing. She could give them the luxury of their delusions if they were going to be giving her goldweight in things to destroy, and paying her for the privilege in favors...

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“Samantha,” her father greeted her, waiting for her at the back of the property after she sent Chomps ahead to let them know she was on her way back. Lots of happy barking was a good way to indicate that she was just fine. “How did everything go?”

“I don’t think we need to move quite yet, but it’s a good idea to get everything in order for when you have to. It’s pretty much a given now.”

“Something’s happened?” Darren asked quietly.

“That Hexar plant cooking off? I did that.” Darren blinked in disbelief at the statement. His middle daughter had-? “There was a member of the Great Packs watching, and saw me ace the six Mazed Werewolves and Scurved there. We got to talking, and he agreed to take credit for the kills of the werewolves, since it gave them leads to a couple packs that have been working with the Worm, some Demonic entity they’ve been fighting for some time.

“Since they’re taking credit for the deaths, we should be in the clear, for now. However, it means there’s an actual supernatural presence in the area. Hexar wouldn’t have moved in without something granting them permission... and those free werewolves were not the same thing as the mutated ones I killed in the compound.” She glanced up at him. “The werewolf didn’t say it, but he intimated they were sworn to other powers, and that probably means a Hag. The ones sworn to Vampires tend to be more urban.”

Darren took a deep breath at the news, wondering what to do about all this. It was far beyond anything he’d ever really had to face.

And his daughter was every bit as dangerous as she said she was...

“It turns I also have a valuable service to offer the werewolves in the form of destroying Cursed and Tainted items. I get to keep the purified mana from when those items are destroyed. I don’t think I have to tell you what being capable of earning four and more goldweight in eight hours is worth long term.”

“A goldweight?...” her father’s voice trailed off, eyes widening. “That is a lot of money!”

“Yes. I won’t do it around here, but if they only bring half a dozen items to me... that is a lot of money and time saved, Papa.”

He had to nod despite himself. “Why are we on a time limit?” he asked softly.

“Because someone is going to sense the destruction of those items, and start sniffing around. On top of that, my Hag Curse is going to mature, and if there’s a Hag in this area, she’s going to sense it. I either have to leave before it begins, or if she comes around, I’m probably going to have to kill her, and that might set the process off. In either case, being my family is going to make you a target.”

Darren looked up at the sky and cursed for a breath or two. “Having a daughter who is a trouble magnet for magical shit is really inconvenient, Samantha.”

“I know, and I am sorry. If you want me to, I’ll wrap things up and leave, so as not to endanger the family, Papa.”

“Do you have some place to go?” her father asked, stunned at those words.

“I’ve got enough cash that I can survive without a problem, and I’ve enough skill to get a job somewhere easily, too.” The werewolves would fall over themselves to hire her, if nothing else.

He sighed, and then nodded. “I’ll leave it to your judgement for when it’s best to go. Your mother and I will set up things so that if we have to leave quick, we can do so.”

“Thank you, Papa.”