Lucius couldn't stop trembling as he forced another petticoat over his head. The journey home may have taken a couple of days but his body had barely recovered, and the idea of dressing up as Lucia to face all the certain drama upon arrival made his head spin more than usual.

"Not that you haven't been of great help throughout this journey, but I really could use a hand right now." He threw a glance at Ethan. "Especially with the stays."

"I would, but I'm stuck," Ethan excused himself where he sat, arms occupied by the two babies he'd barely let go since their emergence. "Besides, I'm not sure you should wear stays when you're like this."

"He can't not wear stays," Frey protested where he was sitting next to him, yet far away enough to steer clear of the unhallowed spawn. "He needs to look the part, and Lucia would dress properly no matter what."

"Even after giving birth in such a painful manner?" Ethan furrowed his brow and both Frey and Lucius wrinkled their noses in response.

"I'm under the impression all births are painful." Lucius grimaced while trying to tie the stays on his own. "Lucia just happened to give birth by knife."

"All the more reason for people to show some understanding."

"You should start wearing perfume, by the way," Frey cut into the conversation, likely having lost interest in what it was actually about and decided to change the topic.

Lucius narrowed his eyes, sensing an uncalled for jab at his personal hygiene.

"Is that so?"

"It would help your chronic identity crisis." Frey nodded with no real trace of smugness. "Another way to separate Lucius and Lucia, as long as you remember to remove it whenever you change back."

"You really like to think things through, huh?"

"Scents can be very useful." Frey's nodding increased. "I noticed, for instance, that young Lady Summers has suddenly switched to using the same perfume as Lady Hamerling. It seemed strange, because why would they choose the same scent when they're in the same social circle? So I did some digging to uncover an affair between young Lady summers and Lord Hamerling, suggesting the perfume change is to not draw attention by smelling of a different perfume after their encounters."

"How interesting." Lucius looked tired, barely able to care, and Frey's hands shook slightly as he went on.

"I haven't used it against them yet. I'm waiting for the right time, perhaps if North Kerilia finds another gold vein, so you can't use it for yourself."

"For the love of Dyris, I wasn't planning to." Lucius shook his head in exasperation. "How much blackmail material have you gathered on people?"

"As much as I need." As always, Frey's beaming smile appeared at the wrong time. "Father would never resort to something like that, but I don't want West Kerilia and my family to suffer either so I've taken it upon myself to use the 'less appropriate' methods my father won't."

"And your father knows about this?"

"Of course not, and he won't." Frey continued before Lucius could open his mouth. "And he would never believe people over me, so even if you try to tell on me he won't listen, so you know."

"I'm just going to avoid you as much as possible from now on, anyway." Lucius shrugged, and Frey seemed to reciprocate the feeling. "Just back me up when I talk to Damien and you can head on home to West Kerilia again."

"So..." Abram appeared in the doorway, looking more uncomfortable than Lucius had ever seen him. "... We have a problem."

"What's wrong?" Ethan stood up, babies held tight against his chest.

"It seems South Kerilia has some unpleasant visitors." Abram nodded for them to follow him up on deck.

"Oh." Ethan gawked from where he had to take cover in the shadows on deck. "Oh fuck."

"That's a big ship," was all Lucius could think of saying as he too stared at the monstrosity of a warship from afar. He squinted to look at the emblem on the sails, recognizing a shimmering harmonia with four wings surrounding it. "... Is that...?"

"The inquisition." Abram's eyes had darkened. "Doubt I want to know what they're doing here, but what I do know is we can't get any closer than this."

"I guess the inquisition is not very fond of vampires." Lucius made a face, recalling small pieces of what he'd heard about them. "You supposedly being unholy and all."

"Won't it look suspicious if we just turn around?" Ethan asked. "We're supposed to drop them off here, and people will recognize the ship."

"They'll take a boat," Abram decided, gesturing for some crewmembers to prepare one. "We'll blame our schedule and say we don't have time to head into port."

Lucius discreetly moved closer to Ethan, leaning in to whisper at supernatural-safe volume.

"You don't think they'll notice something is off with me, right? I mean, they're trained to spot the unholy but just to what extent?"

Ethan's face was not reassuring.

"I honestly don't know. Depends on who they sent, but we don't even know why they're here."

"And what about them?" Lucius nodded down at the babies. "If not me, won't they sense something off about them?"

This made Ethan's face even less reassuring, and he sucked air through his teeth.

"There's... A possibility." He glanced over at Abram. "And I'm getting kind of worried about the others living there."

"Other supernaturals?"

A nod.

"You should get ready too," Abram said to Lucius as he joined them, then he turned to Ethan. "And time for you to say goodbye to the little ones."

"Actually... I think maybe I should go with them." Ethan's voice was low, understandably so as the frown appearing on Abram's face would make anyone feel ashamed of themselves. "I'm worried about the twins, and Lucius, and the others."

"You'd throw yourself into the inquisition's arms."

"I think Olivia is there," Ethan tried. "And probably Theo too."

Abram faltered.

"Why in South Kerilia?"

"They were saying hi to me." Ethan's voice all but disappeared. "They were going to leave later but who knows how long the inquisition has been here?"

"Vampire friends?" Lucius had to ask for clarification, receiving more nods from both of them.

Abram sucked in a deep breath, looking out over the crew before letting the breath out again in a deep sigh.

"We'll drop them off here, and we'll go to Wyrmdon. The ship can stay there while you and I go make sure everyone's alright, but that's it. We leave after that."

Ethan smiled, and even Lucius had to feel relieved. He didn't mind more vampire backup in his life, especially when it concerned bad news like the inquisition.

"Now get ready for land," Abram urged Lucius again. "And prepare Frey so he doesn't die from mediocre-boat-shock."

"I make no such promises."

***

They ended up in an even smaller boat than expected. Richard and Tom had chosen, for werewolf reasons, to go with the vampires to avoid the inquisition as well, which meant the boat only contained a mortal crewmember rowing the boat, Lucius, Eliza, Frey, and the twins.

"This is so degrading," Frey muttered to the waves below them, to no one's surprise, but Lucius reckoned it was easier to just leave him be and not risk more bratty rants, especially since the wave affected rocking made him just as nauseous as said brat.

Abram had certainly made the right call. They had barely reached port when a group of white-haired, white-clad, stern looking people gathered to question them.

"Do you have your papers on you?" The man in front of them all asked with a slight accent, but Lucius wouldn't give him the pleasure of obedience.

"And who, may I ask, is asking?" He raised a sceptical eyebrow. "I don't recognize you at all, and I know the people of this town."

"I am Fiero Lanza," the man dutifully declared. "Paladin of the Traquian inquisition."

Lucius hoped the hitch in his breath went unnoticed. The Traquian branch had sent people? The absolute highest ranking of The Unity's divine humans? What in the Waste was going on in South Kerilia?

"Well, I'm Lucia Cromwell." He refused to look intimidated. "Town chief of South Kerilia. We may have arrived back here in an unconventional—"

"Oh, thank Dinthia," Fiore said before Lucius could finish his sentence, but instead of addressing Lucius, he turned to Frey. "Young Lord Clausson, it's such a relief to see you."

"... What?" Lucius asked, shoulders drooping.

"Your parents have been worried sick." Fiore almost looked sheepish. "Quite relentlessly inquiring about your whereabouts and hoping we would tell them as soon as you return... Or else."

"Naturally," Frey replied, and Lucius didn't even bother looking at his smug face. "I can vouch for the others as well. I assume my parents mentioned I was travelling with Lady Cromwell?"

Fiore looked conflicted. He would most likely go against his orders by letting them pass, but it seemed Frey's parents had somehow matched the intimidation of higher standing inquisitors.

Despite Frey's insistence that his father is too nice for such things.

"Very well," he waved for Frey to get out of the boat. "You may go, and we will send someone to fetch your parents, but we will have to question the others further, I'm afraid. If this really is the town chief, the Grand Cardinal will want to speak to her."

The boat went silent. Even Frey gave the man a bewildered look before getting out of the boat.

"The... Grand Cardinal?" Lucius asked, hoping he'd heard wrong. "The Grand Cardinal of the Traquian inquisition is... Here? In South Kerilia?"

"That is correct." Fiore at least offered his hand to help Lucius up as his hands were occupied with the basket of twins. "Things are dire, so the sanctuaries here finally turned to us."

"Just how dire?" Lucius shook his head, but the paladin held up his hand.

"Follow me. The cardinals will be with you to confirm your identities and answer your questions soon enough."

They were brought to a tavern further away, where upon entry they realised the whole building had been cleared out to create a makeshift headquarters for the inquisition, and the pressure inside Lucius grew. These people were bad news, indeed.

One of the twins let out a low whine, and he hushed them.

"Don't draw attention to yourself now," he hissed as low as he could.

"We have travel papers," Eliza complained next to him while dumping their luggage in front of her. "Why can't we just show them and leave?"

"They want to speak to me regardless, it seems." Lucius patted her shoulder. "You're just caught in the crossfire."

"Well speaking of crossfire, shouldn't Judge Crossfire be able to get us out of this? Can we call for him?"

"Don't be so nervous." Lucius' smile was not convincing. "It's not like you."

"Well I'm worried about the babies."

"Lady Cromwell?"

Lucius turned around to stand face to face with a young woman who must have been created when the Archons ran out of crayons because she was near colourless. Her skin was pale as porcelain while her braided hair had been bleached white, as was required by the inquisition, and even her eyes were a silvery grey with no trace of other hues. Not to mention the white chains pierced through her tightly pinched lips and attached to piercings in her ears were shining white as well.

"Beatrice Ambrosia." The woman made a gracious bow, letting her long, white vestments with wing patterns flow with her movement. "Cardinal of the Traquian inquisition."

She couldn't possibly be much older than Lucius, if she was older than him to begin with. Yet she held such a high ranking position already?

"A pleasure, I should hope." Lucius smiled with as much charm as he could muster. "Yet your presence here is quite concerning, and I hope to finally receive some answers."

"And you will receive some answers," Beatrice declared with a sharp, commanding voice, accent a little thicker than her subordinate and Lucius wondered if her way of responding by repeating his words was a result of her not being fluent in Wyperan. "We were sent here by order of the Grand bishop after the sanctuaries here reported many incidents of unholy nature, and with the state of your town now, it was not a moment too soon."

"What state is my town in now?" Lucius looked out the window. "Aside from you, everything looked as usual."

"There have been many incidents of unholy nature," Beatrice repeated again, back painfully straight and chin held high. "Right now there have been many deaths. Unexplained and suspicious. Not only that, but there have been sightings of werewolves."

Lucius swallowed another wave of discomfort. What were all those deaths about? And werewolves? Was the garm back? It seemed like the worst case scenario. Both his vampire friends and his werewolf friend were on their way back into South Kerilia, and they would be greeted by the biggest threat possible.

"That is concerning, indeed." He nodded, trying to remain calm. "But there's no reason for us to bother a grand cardinal such as yourself. I will handle all of it now that I'm back."

"The grand bishop sent us here for a reason, and we will follow our orders." Beatrice's face turned bitter. "And we are not the grand cardinal."

"... We?"

"Yes, we are the cardinal, which is second in command to the grand cardinal."

Lucius uttered an 'ah'.

"See, 'we' is used when you're referring to more than one person. If you mean you as yourself, you should say 'I'."

Beatrice shook her head.

"We know what we are saying. We as a cardinal are the inquisition, which means everything we say and do is what the inquisition says and does."

"You'll have to excuse my sister." A man joined Beatrice's side, long hair just as white as hers and clothes somehow even whiter. "She takes herself a little too seriously sometimes... Actually, most of the time."

Beatrice scowled at him.

"The texts say that we as cardinals represent—"

"Yes, I heard you." The man placed a finger against her lips. "We all heard you."

Beatrice drew a silent, though unmistakably frustrated breath through her nose, pressing her lips together again in an attempt to regain her emotionless facade while her brother turned his attention to Lucius.

"It's such a pleasure to meet you, Lady Cromwell." He made a small bow and brought Lucius' hand to his lips. "And I apologise for the rough treatment up until now. One should not make an esteemed town chief wait in this poorly lit place, especially not a beautiful woman as you."

Lucius didn't even bother to hide a flustered smile. It was the expected response to that amount of immediate flattery, so why would he feel bad?

Beatrice, however, couldn't help but wrinkle her nose and give her brother a judging look as soon as he turned away.

"And from what I understand, congratulations are in order?" The man gestured to the basket of babies next to Lucius. "It must have been quite the ordeal, what with there being two of them."

You have no idea.

"I'm doing quite well, though." Lucius tried to change the subject despite his paleness and trembling uncovering the lie. "But I am worried about the state of my town."

"And where is the father, currently?" Silvio was apparently not as willing to move on, and he pulled out a chair so Lucius could sit down. "With it being twins, should he not be here to support you instead of just your wet nurse?"

Lucius turned to look at Eliza, who only shrugged, gladly sitting out of the conversation after handing Fiero their travelling papers.

"Oh, she's not the—"

"But he did not follow you on your trip?"

"No, he..." Lucius found no problem playing the heartbroken single parent, the sorrow was all too genuine. "... He's not with us."

"We knew that," Beatrice complained to her brother. "The town has been speaking of him abandoning Lady Cromwell from the moment we arrived, now can we return to important matters?"

She then gestured to the man while staring Lucius down.

"This is the grand cardinal of the Traquian inquisition," she felt the need to enlighten them. "As one would think they should mention first of all."

"I was getting to it, Triss." Another apologetic smile from the man before throwing his sister a glance. "And it's 'he', not 'they'."

"Not as a cardinal."

"By Dinthia," the man muttered with the look only an exasperated older sibling could make before once again addressing Lucius. "She does raise a good point, however. I've yet to introduce myself properly."

"Well... I gathered you're the grand cardinal." Lucius gave him an awkward smile, receiving a devastatingly charming one in return.

"I'm Silvio Ambrosia." He bowed once again. "Grand cardinal of the Traquian inquisition, as my sister took the liberty to inform you."

"A pleasure." Lucius looked the man up and down again. "It's a fitting name. I don't suppose your parents knew your future occupation when naming you?"

"They did, indeed." Silvio kept smiling. "The Ambrosias have led the Traquian branch for the majority of its existence. It is, in fact, our birth right."

"You do seem a bit... Overly qualified for this." Lucius' concerns would not rest. "If something is the matter here, I'm certain the sanctuaries will be more than enough to aid me in this occult, still unknown to me, matter."

"But as I understand it, it's not just one matter, is it?" Silvio's face softened, with his smile turning more pitying than before. "There have been many smaller incidents over the years, hasn't there? Sightings of unholy creatures, sanctuaries burning... And when the large one crumbled just like that, we couldn't help but worry. We only got word of this situation right before we were about to leave Traque to go here, so I believe we can thank Dinthia that we arrived when we did."

"Can you please tell me more about the situation?" Lucius tried not to sound as frustrated as he was getting. "If things are so serious, why is informing me not a priority? Your sister mentio—"

"Cardinal Ambrosia," Beatrice corrected him, and Lucius made a face but tried to curve it into an apologetic smile while continuing.

"Cardinal Ambrosia mentioned several unexplained deaths, and some werewolf connection?"

"Yes, it's been spreading rapidly these past days, and we believe it might have to do with the water. More specifically the wells."

Lucius wrinkled his eyebrows.

"The wells lead to underground caves with flowing water. Sicknesses or dangerous substances should not be an issue."

"We were informed of that as well, except there are places in town where that is not the case," Silvio pointed out. "Some... Filthier place. I think they called it something with tails?"

"The Entrails?" Lucius suggested, heart sinking as it made sense. The Entrails did not have the same access to fresh water, and if something had ended up in the wells, it would remain there.

"I was informed that we're supposed to focus on it not spreading to other parts of town as a priority, but I don't understand it." Silvio shook his head. "Should we not focus on the source of the problem?"

Lucius couldn't be more in agreement, and he clenched his jaw in building anger before replying.

"That's because the upper class finds the lower class disposable." It was infuriating. He'd gotten rid of so many anglers, yet the problem had such deep roots. "They won't intervene unless it threatens the wealthier parts of town."

Silvio gawked, even taking a small step back.

"Well, you must pardon my bluntness, but that sounds quite inhumane, does it not? People in these 'entrails' are just as much people as the others."

"No, I agree." Lucius almost felt dizzy from his rapid nodding. "And I'm trying to change it but it's not so easy."

"Well, don't you worry about that anymore." Silvio gave him a dazzling, reassuring smile again. "We're here now, and we will make sure all humans are treated the same."

Lucius held back another grimace.

"So... These werewolves... Have they been spotted around The Entrails as well?"

"The first days," Beatrice reported, sharp words such a contrast to her brother's soothing voice that Lucius ended up flinching. "The more days have gone by, the further away the sightings have been."

"Probably because they move away from the area," Silvio added. "We suspect, as you seem to as well, that it still may have started with the water there."

"But why would werewolves be connected to water?" Lucius mumbled, mostly himself, but Silvio was more than happy to join in.

"The werewolves can disguise themselves as human, so who's to say what horrors they're up to without us knowing." He grabbed Lucius' hand again. "But rest assured, we will not rest before they've all been purged from this plane and the town can rest peacefully again."

Lucius suppressed a look of disgust.

"... Purged?"

"Killed," Beatrice so helpfully explained, to her brother's further displeasure. "It means we will kill them and let The Waste take care of their remains."

"Please mind your words, Triss."

"Well she did not understand you, so we—"

"Cardinal."

Beatrice shut her mouth immediately at that, lowering her head for the first time to stare at the floor.

"I'm... Rather certain the werewolves aren't unholy?" Lucius had to try, ignoring the sudden tension in the room. "As I've understood it, they're even considered sacred to the Wexian faith."

"Well, not all faiths are correct." Silvio still held Lucius' hand in a comforting grip. "And just because they can withstand our holy weapons it doesn't mean they are not a threat to human kind, and we will act accordingly."

He then let go of Lucius to lean down and pat the baby girl on her head.

"You should not have to worry, neither about yourself or about your little ones."

And then, without so much as an inhalation, the little girl screamed.

"I'm—" Lucius' heart raced as the loud cries continued and he picked her up to hush her, bouncing her lightly to no avail. "I don't know why she's being like this all of a sudden."

"Oh, I must have simply startled her." Silvio thankfully shrugged it off. "And children are unpredictable to begin with, so it's no matter. She will calm down soon in the arms of her mother."

Beatrice, however, was not as dismissive, and her eyes narrowed into a glare at the girl.

"I... I think this is as good of a time as any to end things for now." Lucius managed a nervous laugh while the girl screamed his ears off. "I will speak to the council and see what our next step will be."

"Oh, we are already working on the next step." Silvio placed a hand on Lucius' shoulder just as he was about to escape. "Our paladins are already at work closing off all roads and making certain no one comes in or out without our permission."

Lucius hoped his paling skin went unnoticed.

"That... Seems like something you would need my permission for, and I'm not so cert—"

"As convenience would have it, we don't need your permission." Silvio beamed, having to raise his voice over the crying. "This town is overseen by The Unity's sanctuaries and the inquisition stands higher in authority than a town chief, so we had no trouble issuing the order on our own."

"Oh..." Lucius wanted to scream just as much as the baby in his arms. "... How reassuring."

Eliza let out an unbecoming groan as soon as they'd gotten out of the building.

"What in the Waste is going on? And what gives them the right?" She lowered her voice as the boy squirmed in the basket. They were not in need of a screaming baby duet. "And how shameless of a flirt can a man be?"

"He can be as much of a flirt as he wants," Lucius muttered, not denying the attention was a welcome ego boost, but the fact that the man posed a huge threat to not only him but many of his friends was kind of a deal breaker. "As long as they go away as soon as possible."

"But that means getting rid of werewolves just for existing," Eliza reminded him. "I mean, they never said the werewolves had caused all these deaths. They said the deaths were mysterious and unexplained, and maybe connected to water."

Lucius frowned at this. He hadn't even considered it. Why would werewolves want to contaminate water? And where had they all appeared from?

Tom and Richard would know, he reckoned, but had they even found their way into town before the inquisition closed the roads? And wasn't it safer if they didn't?

And on the subject of those two, what if it was connected to the Larkspur order? What if they had gotten hold of more werewolves to do their bidding, and not just the garm? Had Derek not mentioned the garm must have others near her?

He shuddered, patting the girl's back as she began to calm down. He was not thrilled about the idea to ask Derek for help tracking them down. Chances were Damien already had him doing that, anyway. Which left one possible option when it came to Larkspur knowledge, but he was not so sure Ivan wanted to be interrogated again and unlike the aforementioned two, Lucius actually respected the man and owed him a lot.

So perhaps being a thorn in the scourgefucking BBT monster duo's side was his best bet after all.

***

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

Aaaand we're back! Sort of. I'm still pretty stuck on How To Fall From Grace but I've been missing this book so much so I just had to get some writing in. Hopefully now that this new arc is starting it'll be easier to get into it again. As always, I'd love to hear your thoughts. What are your thoughts on the inquisition/the Ambrosias? What's going on with the water and werewolf sightings? Theories, please!