Dead Men Smiling

7.1

No matter who you are, you must agree that loyalty is essential in all alliances.

-----

A big man sat behind a desk looking at the papers in front of him with a frown when he heard someone knock on the door.

"Come in."

The door opened and an androgynous figure with a headscarf and a facemask walked in, closely followed by a tall brunette with green eyes and a shorter blonde with red eyes. He rose a brow, concerned with odd trio but gestured for them to sit.

"Blue? Who are these people."

The one referred to as Blue smiled beneath the mask, blue eyes glowing slightly. "Well, Jack-I beg your pardon- Alpha Jack. These are Liz and Sed; my siblings."

Jack's brow furrowed; Siblings? There's more of them?

Sed lit a new a cigarette and frowned when Jack rose a brow. "No smoke zone?" He asked, getting clarification when the Alpha nodded. Sed sighed heavily and extinguished the cigarette in his usual fashion that had Jack grimacing before he sent a glance at his most trusted worker, wondering if the people they brought could be trusted.

Liz, who had already made herself comfortable leaned forward. "I'm correct to assume that your demand for Dolan's presence is to advance your pack and you see him as your pack's ticket to glory?"

She didn't wait for him to reply before turning her attention to Sed. "And you were sent to capture him by The Emperor?"

Sed had made multiple mini-Seds and nodded absentmindedly as he squashed one with his hand, staining it with blood which he ignored.

Liz pretended that she didn't see anything and smiled. "And I need him to take me to take me to the Crystal Cave." She then pressed her hands together and leaned back, processing the best path to follow that wouldn't end in animosity among them.

The Blue Eyed Bandit smiled slightly, remembering when they managed to get into the cave wishing that they had paused to appreciate the beauty of what the cave contained. The smile then fell when the remembered something that would upset their siblings and decided not to say anything.

Sed finally spoke. "I don't mind taking him to His Highness after you lot do what you want with him. I'm fairly certain that he won't be returning if I take him first." He then vanished the rest of his mini clones. "It also wouldn't make sense for that long journey to take place so- with all due respect, Alpha- I assume that Liz should have him first."

The Alpha processed the offer before shrugging his shoulders. "How will we know that we won't betray one another?"

"We aren't," Liz said with a frown, "I don't trust any of you but I'll have to take your word for it."

Sed on the other hand, wasn't going to take any risk. He held out a silver cup that he had unhooked from his belt and asked Liz to set a flame beneath it. "Let's make a blood pact. It'll keep all of us in check."

As a way of showing that he wasn't attempting anything funny, Sed cut himself first along his palm and watched his blood drip into the cup before he handed it to Liz who repeated the action without much question followed by Jack.

Sed then muttered something under his breath as he waved his wand over the potion, turning the dark red into a silver and then sipped from the cup, fighting the urge to spit it out as he passed the cup to Liz who swallowed her bile along with the liquid.

Jack sniffed the liquid and knocked it back, shuddering at the disgusting taste.

"Loyalty tastes disgusting, "Sed said airily as he waved the wand to clean the cup." He then smiled, completely catching the others off guard before he stood and left the office, not waiting for dismissal.

Liz cringed at the blatant disrespect had brother had shown and opened to mouth to apologize when the Alpha stopped her.

"Don't worry; I'm not offended by what he did and I believe that our discussion is over so you're dismissed."

Liz nodded her head as she pursed her lips, not wanting to say anything that would give the Alpha reason to be suspicious of her. She then stood, thanked him for his hospitality and left the office.

Jack relaxed in his seat when The Blue Eyed Bandit's smooth voice cut through his peace, starling him. He placed a hand to his chest and glared at the latter who chuckled at the fact that they had scared him.

"I forgot that you were here," Jack said as he settled back into his chair.

The other waved a dismissive hand. "That isn't an uncommon event and I do apologize for startling you but I remembered that I had to give you this."

They pulled a scroll from their bag. "It's from the Beta of the Iron Pack or is he soon-to-be? That place has a messy rank system as at now."

He knew the bandit a bit too well to know that they had read the whole thing and asked them which was answered with a shrug and an answer in the positive.

They let out a bored yawn before summarizing the contents of the letter. "Their soon-to-Be-Alpha's wolf is dying and if they realize they can't do anything to save their pack, they will integrate with yours."

Jack hummed as years of reading payed off, the pack in discussion was one of the most powerful, influential and richest of the packs. The current Alpha's Luna went missing with their cub whose wolf is currently dying. He smiled slightly and gestured for the bandit to get a book on the Iron Pack.

"Whatever will I do with the information in this book?" They asked as their eyes skimmed over the contents.

Jack rose a brow. "Kill the cub or the soon-to-Be-Alpha. If either die, this pack will be powerful." "And Mission: Find Dolan?"

"The others won't miss you."

---

As soon as Liz caught up with Sed, he ran her through with his knife and frowned at the smoke the copy left. He pinched the bridge of his nose and squeezed his eyes tightly; trying to fight the nausea and headache from performing so many illusion spells in such a short period of time.

He opened the red orbs and took out a cigarette which he promptly lit and begun to inhale then exhale before looking at the sky. "Liz, you better know what you are doing."

---

The headscarf and mask sat delicately on the armrest of a chair as the bandit sighed as they dropped the rest of their clothes on the floor and stepped out of the pool it formed delicately before walking to the bathroom and stood in front of the mirror, not caring about the state of undress.

A sigh escaped their lips as the turned on the shower and smiled slightly as the room filled with steam before turning their gaze to the mirror watching as the tan colour of their skin gave way to a paler colour.

If you are to be a private eye and wish to use your gifts my dear, you must know two things.

The blue in their eyes faded and the androgynous structure gave way to a bigger chest, hips and behind. "Number One: Be a master of disguise, gender must not be an obstacle to your powers."

The words fell out of their moth smoothly and easily, like it was as second nature as adapting a new persona.

Their thoughts then strayed to their siblings as they stepped beneath the shower and they frowned; Their parents would be disappointed to find out that none of them kept the statute of neutrality that both their people appreciated. "Number Two: Everything is involved in everything somewhere somehow; you just need to know how to blend in or look for those relations."

After the shower, the person who stood before the mirror wasn't the bandit or the woman from the pub. A smile made its way onto the face, green eyes gleaming. "Welcome back, Liz."