Han walked into the lobby at the Mage Collective headquarters. It was a small and simple space, unassuming, so as not to draw attention. But there was an elevator at the other end of the entrance that led to every other department the Mage Collective had. The building was even attached to a hospital that had both a public wing and a private Collective wing. 

Han had driven around for awhile after his fight with Rand, realizing after cooling off that he had just skipped class. Was Sidney wondering where he had gone? He had been about to turn back when he received the notification that the drawing of the necklace was ready at headquarters. He was grateful to have a real reason to skip school. He needed a break.

Han got into the elevator and pressed the button for the sixth floor, the Investigation Department. The cubicles were quiet as he walked towards Kyle's, half of them empty. The Investigation Department had a lot of field officers that were often out of headquarters.

But Han could spot Kyle's dreads just down the way, over the wall of his cubicle. He gave a knock on the wall when he reached it, and Kyle spun in his chair. 

"Oh, hey, Han." Kyle had an easy smile, the kind of guy who you believed was probably happy most of the time. And not even fake happy but truly, genuinely happy and content with life.

"How's it going?"

"Good, good. Your drawing is done, let me find it here." He sorted through the papers littering his desk. Han spotted one of Los Malos buried beneath a few others. That made him think of Rand. And their fight. Kyle himself had been a guy not lucky enough to win Rand's affection. Han wondered how Kyle dealt with that.

"Here it is," Kyle said, pulling out a sheet of paper. "I finished it a few days ago, but had the Wizards check it out first."

The Wizards were like supernatural IT, and handled a lot of the research for the Collective as well. 

"What'd they find?"

"Nothing."

"Nothing at all? Really? The writing on this has to be some kind of language."

"It is, but nothing that we have in our system or library. Which means it's either super obscure. And I mean, obscenely and absolutely obscure. Or it's ancient. And I mean, obscenely and absolutely ancient."

He was right. That there could be a language out there that the Collective would have no information on, none at all, was shocking. If it was obscure, or ancient, or both, that might it explain it. But even then, the Collective had lots of information on obscure and ancient things. They'd been around for millennia.

It also wasn't lost on Han that Los Malos themselves were an unknown. That two such unknowns could be unearthed in so little time.

Yeah, things were definitely brewing.

"There is one more place you could go for information," Kyle said, his voice cautious.

Han gave a long-suffering sigh. "Of course there is."

***

An hour later, Han was at the entrance to the Kesari clan's Eyrie, Lani by his side. Normally it was Rand who he would ask to join him on an errand such as this, but that was out of the question for him now. 

The Eyrie was the home of the Kesari vampires. They were not an ally of the Collective. Rather, they were one of their greatest enemies. But sometimes they had diplomatic need of each other. They had common enemies, like Alec Orsini. The Collective couldn't attack the Kesari vampires or the Eyrie without causing an all-out war, and that would cause too much collateral damage. It was mutually-assured destruction. So they coexisted, fighting each other only on the streets when there was a need. If Han saw a vampire feeding, he was free to do what he had to do. But here at the Eyrie, Han and and Lani came in peace, and they wouldn't harm them. 

There was a space of trees by an abandoned farm where the Eyrie was hidden away, covered by magic so that no passing bystanders could ever discover it. When they passed through the trees to the other side, the Eyrie lay before them, a small village inside a valley, the King's Palace looming over everything else. 

Seconds after they stepped foot into the Eyrie's borders, vampire guards surrounded them.

"We just need some information," Han said, putting his hands up in surrender. "We mean no harm." 

The vampires searched them thoroughly to make sure they weren't carrying any poisoned stakes, one of the only things that could take the vampires out. Once they were cleared, two of the vamps went off to fetch the Prince while the rest stood guard.

"Hey," Han said, nodding to the guard nearest him, a woman with hair that went down past her butt. "Nice weather today, huh?"

"We don't have to talk," the vampire growled.

"Yep, okay. Fine. Silence it is then."

It was thirty minutes of silence. Han fidgeted the whole time. Lani, on the other hand, stood still and at peace. He had no idea how she did it. Just when he thought he'd go crazy from the stillness, he could see the two guards approaching, followed by the Prince of the Kesari clan, Nikolaas.

"It's always Third Company, isn't it?" Nikolaas said as he reached them. "You know, I actually have things to do. I do run this entire clan, you know. I'm not just here to be at your beck and call."

"I thought your brother ran the clan," Han said, at a loss for any other words. He hadn't expected to be greeted in such a way. Lani hung her head and Han knew it was the wrong thing to say.

"My brother died over a month ago, Han. You can feel free to refer to me as "king" from now on."

No wonder he seemed to be in a mood. Han didn't know what to say. Offer his condolences? That seemed cheap coming from someone who killed vampires on a regular basis.

"We're sorry to bother you, Nikolaas," Lani said in a surprisingly sincere tone. "We know you're busy. And we know this is a privilege. But this is important. Can you please help us?"

Nikolaas stared hard at Lani for a few moments, and Han imagined he was trying to dig into her mind. As royal blood, he had special abilities that the rest of his clan did not have, including the ability to read people's minds. They had been trained at the Mage Collective to block such things, but Nikolaas was good, and every now and then he could get information out of them. It was a risk they took in coming to him.

Nikolaas turned his piercing blue eyes on him and Han froze. "You're coming here about a stupid girl you like?" he asked. "Really?"

"I don't... that's not... look, she may be a threat. I was tasked with--"

"Just be quiet and let him see for myself," Nikolaas said coldly, taking a step towards him.

Han released his thoughts a little, just the things that had to do with Sidney. Nikolaas's eyes seemed to be staring through him rather than at him. It was unnerving.

"She's the one who caused the spike," Nikolaas said. "I didn't realize. You should be careful. You're not the only one looking into her presence here. I know for a fact that the Solaris clan is invested in figuring her out as well. And I have reason to believe there are more invested parties."

That wasn't good. What could the Solaris clan want with Sidney? If possible, they were even worse than the Kesari clan. They were ruthless and bloodthirsty vampires. But their clan was small, about a tenth of the size of the Kesari clan, so they were less of a threat and easier to manage.

"Do you know who else?" Han asked.

"No, but I have a guess."

"Orsini," Lani said, not as a question.

Shit. That was the last thing Han wanted to hear. Nothing in his time with Sidney gave him any hint as to her being anything special. Beyond this necklace, he had little to go on. And if all these other parties were interested in her then... she wasn't safe. 

"Let me see the symbol." Nikolaas held out his hand expectantly.

Han took the drawing of Sidney's necklace out of his pocket and handed it to him. He looked it over thoughtfully. "The Wizards got nothing?"

Han didn't like that Nikolaas even knew about the Wizards. He shook his head in answer.

"Leave it with me, I'll see what I can find."

"Thank you," Lani said.

"Anything to work against Orsini," Nikolaas said. Han expected him to scowl, show his distaste for Orsini, make a snide comment, like he normally did. Instead he just stood there, his head turned down. As Han watched him he could see that he was shaking, his muscles tense. His eyes were hard and cold.

"It was Orsini, wasn't it?" Lani said. "He killed your brother."

Nikolaas's head snapped up to look at Lani and for a second Han thought he might hit her. But then he took a breath and stepped back. "You can go. Come back in a week and I'll tell you my findings. For a price."

Lani and Han didn't need to be told twice. They were at the line of trees when Nikolaas called Han's name. They turned back to face him. "You're playing a dangerous game," Nikolaas said. "This girl might be an innocent. Do you really want to hurt her?"

Han scoffed. "I'm not hurting anyone, it's just an investigation."

"It's more than that. You care about her."

"She's just a target." Han didn't know why he was answering back to Nikolaas. He didn't have to explain himself to anyone, let alone Nikolaas. This was his investigation.

Nikolaas smiled. "Really? You make out with all of your targets, then?"

"We didn't...." Han shook his head. He was not about to get into this with the head of an enemy vampire clan. But at least this was the Nikolaas Han knew. Always having to make it personal, get in the last word. "Let's go, Lani."

Lani waited until they were away from the trees on the other side, back to the real world, before saying anything, and Han appreciated that. It gave him some time to think. She looked over at him as they walked towards his car. "I think you're getting in over your head, Han."

"What do you mean? It's just a mission."

"What Nikolaas said is true, isn't it? You have feelings for her."

"Oh, please. I've known her for two weeks. This is just work."

Lani just looked at him sideways, not speaking. But she didn't have to say anything. Han could feel her gaze on him and he fidgeted uncomfortably.

"Fine! I'm attracted to her, okay? But it's okay, I've got it under control. And it's working in my favor. I can use this to get closer to the information we need."

Lani shook her head. "I don't know if you want to go down that road. You're messing with her emotions, Han, not just yours."

Han took a breath, trying not to get argumentative. It would probably just further prove her point. "I appreciate your concern. Really, I do. But I've got this. The job will be over soon. I'll be out of this stupid cast, and everything will be back to normal."

Lani was quiet for a while, and Han knew she was going to let it drop before she even spoke the words. "Han, just please be careful. I don't want to see you get hurt."

"Thanks, but, like I said, I've got everything under control."