Stronger Together chapter 141 (Patreon)

Henry's face paled immediately after hearing The Beast's name. I  really wished people would stop reacting like that, it was starting to  make me nervous. He let his head roll back against the chair bonelessly,  staring up at the vaulted ceiling in despair. His voice came out small  and quiet, almost broken "Why is the world like this? So many creatures  out there trying to prey on those who need help the most. I just want my  friends to be safe and happy, but every time I think I've made steps  toward a better world something like this happens."

The  raw pain in his quiet words was heartbreaking to her. He sighed, all  the energy and happiness present when we arrived were long gone and I  felt nothing but shame for putting this on him. He deserved better,  deserved to know his hard work for others was making a difference, yet I  just kept showing up looking for horrible monsters doing terrible  things to those he wanted to protect most. I walked gingerly up behind  the altar and sat down on the floor next to Henry's chair. "I get it. I  do. No one wants to feel useless, not that I would ever say that you  are, but feeling like you aren't making a difference sucks. But you're  looking at this the wrong way?"

Henry  raised his head to look at me, avoiding my eyes to make sure not to  accidentally trigger a soulgaze "How am I supposed to look at it? I  dedicate my life to helping these people and they keep being victimized  by any random supernatural who stumbles into town. I'm failing them.  They aren't equipped to protect themselves from threats like that, they  need someone like me to look out for them and I'm not good enough." He  sounded frustrated and tired, like someone who had tried to accomplish  the same goal over and over for years and just couldn't do it anymore.

I  shot him a reassuring smile "Because it isn't all or nothing. You can't  save everyone, but you do save many of them. Think of the thousands of  people who might be in danger from any one of these threats that are  safe under your protection. You give them somewhere safe to go,  something stable in a world that is normally anything but. Think of how  many kids are growing up happy downstairs who might be starving on the  street or sleeping in a car. You do so much Henry, and if you ever  forget that just go downstairs and ask those people you help if they  think you do enough." I let my pride in him and my gratitude that I  could call him a friend leak into my voice and it was clear he noticed.

He  laughed and rubbed his eyes "You have a way with words my friend. I'm  lucky to have you around. I'm sorry forgive me for indulging in that  bout of self pity. What were you asking? Oh yes, Jean Chastel. I don't  just know of him, I know him. I ran across him a few times as a Warden.  Disgusting creature, but too powerful to be worth offending as far as  the council is concerned. Despite that we came into conflict with him on  occasion, though rarely to our advantage." His eyes were far away ,  staring past me into the distance as he thought back to his encounter  with a being that was rapidly taking shape in my mind as a monster.

His  gaze looked haunted and his voice was low as he continued "I first ran  across him in Provence. I was in the area tracking what we thought was a  nest of ghouls. Children started disappearing, as did young women, all  of them centered around a wealthy family in the region with magic. We  assumed they were feeding their women and children to the ghouls, they  were all servants and retainers of the family's youngest daughter a  beautiful girl with no magical talent named Vivianne. When we arrived we  staked out the family's residence, watching for any sign of movement  from the ghouls."

He was reciting the story  in a distant tone, like he was reading from a story book, but there was  a tremor in his voice that showed it was far from impersonal.

The  story was shaping up to be a horror, and I was almost afraid to hear  more, but I listened to my friend. He needed to share this. He took a  deep breath and continued "Jean Chastel was courting the girl. He was  using the name Henri Renard at the time so we didn't know him. He is a  master of blending in with his prey. The servants and the children were  all somehow related to Vivianne so we decided to watch the girl closest  of all, thinking she might be using ghouls to try to take control of her  family. The truth was worse. He was killing them to isolate and disturb  her. He'd decided she was to be his next victim and he was stripping  her of all support and compassion."

His  eyes filled with tears "He'd been waiting until she slept and sneaking  into her room, eating them at the foot of her bed. One limb at a time.  When he was done he hid the bones under her bed, her maids were the ones  who cleaned so she didn't even know they were there. We intervened and  chased him off, but when she found them under there...the children's  skulls were so small, and they had human teeth marks scored into them.  Her mind broke. She never recovered from it, her family had to have her  committed. I've heard he visits her every year. He brings flowers. Likes  to see the look on her face when she spots him."

The  tears were still flowing, but they were angry now, not sad as he glared  at nothing, his breathing ragged. His eyes snapped back to my face  without meeting mine "I've met many creatures, vampires, ghouls, even a  demon or two. But I've rarely come into contact with true evil. Jean  Chastel is evil. He's not a Beast, he's a monster. If that creature is  here in the city I will help you find him and I will help you kill him.  The world is a better, safer place without him in it." I didn't think  I'd ever heard that much venom in his voice before, Henry was usually  such a kind person, even when we first met and he kind of wanted to kill  Harry because of Justin he hadn't sounded like that. Angry sure, but  this was real hate.

Not  to mention Henry stayed down here for a reason, this place was warded  up the ass to prevent the council from knowing he was still around.  Justin had framed Henry using his position with the Warden's and the  older man had been a fugitive for years. Ebenezar and Listens-to-Wind  knew he was here but they were good guys who wouldn't say anything. If  anyone else found out...well two people wasn't enough to swing a Senior  Council vote, Henry would get the same treatment all law breakers got.  Beheading.

I  was panicking slightly about the possibility "Henry, if you come out to  hunt with us you'll be in public in a major way nexus. Chicago is a hub  of connections to the nevernever not to mention leylines. You could be  spotted by someone or something or even sensed from further away than  would be observable. That's crazy dangerous. We've taken out some scary  stuff we can take The Beast, just leave him to us. He killed my friend, I  owe him some serious pay back in any case. However there is a way you  can help us track him down."

His  face was hard but he didn't immediately correct me. He looked like he  was wrestling internally with the problem but he finally settled down  enough to ask the obvious question. "Alright. What do you need from me? I  can send some of my golems with you at the very least. I'm afraid you I  can't help if you were hoping to get Calliope's aid again. The only  reason she helped last time was because of your deal, if you don't have  something else of interest to her there's no way to motivate her to look  for traces of him. She doesn't do much for the sake of sentiment. Our  work together was mainly a whim and a bit of an experiment, she likes me  but I can't change her mind."

I  hadn't actually considered that particular resource, but even a year  later I remembered that terrible vision and wasn't anxious to repeat it.  It had helped refine my mind a bit which was damn useful but Calliope  was just too unpredictable. I shook my head "No what we need from you is  much simpler. We need information on the places where people who  wouldn't be missed might have been vanishing more than usual, especially  if they all have some relation to one person. From your story and from  what Dalton said I think Jean Chastel is most likely to have picked a  target to torment this time, all the missing people will probably know  each other or have someone in common."

Henry  nodded seriously. "I'll ask around. It's harder to trace relationships  like that. Everyone in the community knows one another, or at least  everyone who comes here. Figuring out who his current victim in will be  challenging. Fortunately, or rather unfortunately as the case may be, I  happen to know Jean Chastel has a preference for young women, late teens  early twenties usually. The percentage of younger people in the  community is relatively low. Most are either older or children of older  people. It helps narrow it down and gives me a few ideas. I'll reach out  once I have something. If you need any of my golems however you need  only ask."

I  nodded at the older man as he stood up and pulled me into a tight hug  "You're a good man Cameron, I know we don't always see ourselves clearly  and you usually have your reasons for coming here, but you do come down  to visit. You're a hero to these people and to me, and don't you forget  it." He released me with a kind smile "I'll head down to get started  asking around, you all get home safe. And visit again soon, I'd love to  show you our new temporary housing quarters, they wouldn't have been  possible without you and Harry putting me in touch with Ebenezar and  Joseph." He clapped his hand on my shoulder and gave it a squeeze before  heading down into Safehold to gather information.

I  smiled as I watched him go, Henry was like the grandpa none of us had  ever had. He always looked out for everyone and was always there when  you needed him. It was always nice coming to talk to him. Before my  thoughts could continue though my phone rang. One odd consequence of  magic cell phone networks was increased range. Even in an underground  church below the city of Chicago I got service. I tapped the screen to  accept the call and Dalton's voice echoed out into the now silent  cathedral as he said hello. I cut to the chase not feeling like a long  conversation "Hey Dalton what's up?"

His  voice sounded concerned but not urgent as he responded. "I need you to  meet me at the Crying Limey, I have information on who is in town  looking for you know who and it isn't good." I wasn't much in the mood  to head to the docks and my silence must have made that clear because  Dalton expanded on his news a bit. "There's a bunch of people here but  the biggest ones are people you would have heard of. Remus and Romulus  are here looking for the kid. The founders of the Roman Empire are in  Chicago, Cam." I told him on my way and hung up, it never rains but it  pours.