1. Macabre Marmalade (COMPLETED; EDITING)

L (Epilogue)

Todor woke up with a familiar feeling of staring into an unfamiliar ceiling. I really need to stop doing that, he thought as he tried to move his aching muscles. They obeyed him but with protest and searing pain that shot from every square inch of his body. But it was familiar pain and he welcomed it. He glared at the infusion needle that was in his left arm before he snapped it out with a grimace of pain at the pang the action caused.

Hobbling from a bed that clearly wasn't in a hospital he approached the window and looked outside. His foggy mind refused to place the grassy field beyond until knock came from behind him. Todor turned and stared at the oaken door a few seconds before answering.

"Go ahead," he said, voice slightly raw.

The door opened and Governor of Moriganhold strolled in. She wore jeans and a plain white t-shirt with her hair in a messy ponytail. Todors eyebrows went up at that.

"Constable Corpus," she said looking left and right before pointing at the table and a few chairs next to the window. "Please sit."

Todor did as she said, as if in a daze.

"Just call me Todor," he replied once he took a sit.

"Alright, Todor. You can call me Mellisa when we are in private," she responded almost gently.

"I am guessing I am at your villa," he said, his mind finally catching up.

"Agent Norman brought you here with loud protests from Sunhawk scion and Warchief Kvalshgog. You gathered quite the powerful allies in those two."

Todor nodded and stayed silent.

"Some of my people are worried about that. Your sudden rise to an influential position, you obtaining the power that was buried for eighty thousand years. Having powerful people backing you up. They think you might go the same path as Midnight Breeze. Try to seize the power thinking you can do a better job at it. What do you reply to such thoughts?" Holenador said her fingers entangled in her lap.

"I say they are a bunch of idiots. Being the only cop in the entire city of millions is hard enough, add to that worries about outside threats, logistics, finances. No thank you. I don't envy you the job," Todor said tiredly. Governors lips quirked slightly.

"That is what I was hoping you would say. You might not know but I have Wrathful Eyes. They are not as good as they once were, but I can see the truth," she said leaning forward on the table and staring at Todor. "And not even once you lied to me. So now I ask you, what would it take for you to betray me?"

Todor expelled air from his lungs and moved his palm through his hair.

"If you became unstable and drunk with power, danger to the city, try to hurt me or people I care about. Standard things," he said with a weak smile. "I am sorry. But something Midnight Breeze said is still bothering me."

Governor nodded and motioned him to continue.

"He was convinced he had to protect us from some terrible threat that is coming our way. I just thought it is megalomaniac talk and his savior complex," he stopped and glanced outside. "I accused him of not being able to save anyone since he lost the ability to care about lives he uses up along the way. That got him mad like I hit a nerve."

Holenador pursed her lips nodding.

"Probably because you did." She took a deep breath and sighed. "That is the curse of immortality. You persist while mountains decay, you live on as the seas dry up. So when souls cross your path they are just a drop in the ocean. A flicker in our eyes and they are gone. We blink and they are no longer there. It's hard to care for such a thing that is gone before we even realize its there."