Policeman and the cat

58 - Dungeon flirt

"Those illusions don't suit you, beloved of Bermont," she said.

Hmm-- she could tell? Was it the ring or the bit of presence that did linger around? Only August could hide everything. There was a tense air around him and Ian looked sideways to see that the eyes of all his party were narrowed. Was there ... some bad blood between them?

"Ah, well, I used to look like this--" Should he undo the illusion? Maybe not-- "I'm Ian Spenser, that's Nelly and Chilli, you would be?"

"Valerie Micah, an undead alchemist, these are my apprentices - Lane Jenso, Khalil Ahman and you know Amina." She introduced them. "My name doesn't seem to ring a bell, so I'll add that I'm fourth-- or was it third?"

"Second now," Wei filled in.

"I'm honored," she said. "On the list of undead with huge bounties on their heads for causing all sorts of mischief. So I'm sorry to disappoint I won't be able to fit in like Knox till my babies stop breaking out, tearing me and Lane to pieces then escape to rampage. You see, Knox can just poison himself to sample his work, but my dears aren't satisfied with me alone."

"Roger IV tore apart Khalil as well," Lane added in with a similarly regretful expression.

"I should have used disinfecting wash not purification to hide," Khalil admitted.

"I hope Sandy doesn't do that to me," Amina noted.

"Dear, I think Sandy is dead, we haven't fed her in a month," Valerie said. "We'll get to grow Sandy II if these people keep their word of not attacking or killing us," she added.

"I'm sorry to hear. Unique pets?" Ian checked.

"Yes," Valerie said.

"Chimeras," Lorenz said. "Didn't Police put one down recently?" Ian noticed that now everyone except him, Nelly and Chilli had eyes of a dead fish listening to these four (+ himself) converse.

"Ah, that one! I was on a different job," Ian said. "Sorry--" He glanced over at Valerie-- it was a pet she made for someone. It kind of sounded similar-ish to what Knox was doing with poisons, just-- well, sounded like Valerie had a harder time containing her pets than-- was that the kind of problem Knox was having two centuries ago? Containing poisons? Knox just didn't strike Ian as someone who would go out and poison people for the heck of it. And Valerie also-- just didn't strike him like a person of that sort.

"Of course, it's always sad when something you grew with love for years gets killed," Valerie said, letting out a soft breath. "But I'm used to hearing about their demise."

Amina had the tent disappear.

Ian still felt sorry to hear that had happened to Valerie. That was something none of the writings reflected - that it had been a pet once and that someone had created it, grown it, loved it. The picture depicted a monster, but even dogs and cats could turn scary if they came at you with intent to kill.

"Are they pettable?" Ian asked, thinking about the picture.

"I have not yet gotten a single request that didn't include the creature being pettable," Valerie said. "It's quite a challenge to make the cold-blooded types have these adorable parts, but of course, only the client gets the information on that, that's a part of the charm in getting a unique pet, only the owner knows."

"The one that was put down on town square--" Ian started.

"How did the child look?" Valerie asked.

"Wolfish, scaly legs, eight eyes in two rows," Ian said.

"Ah, Marie III," she recalled.

"Behind the ears and chest mane?" Ian asked. 

Valerie smiled. "You are not wrong, but well, since both the poor child and owner are gone I'll tell that she liked her paws stroked, she would curl around you like a dear and let you play with her soft paws. Ayaan was disappointed animals didn't enjoy a cute part like that being touched."