Aircraft had been one of the earliest examples of iing magid teology. Long before magit public, the work had been employing private pnes with uised optioras. After twenty more years of development time, and no more need for secrecy, private air travel involved some of the most advanced magitech avaible.

  Ailden’s pne rocked as if struck by turbulence, but the cause was rather more dangerous. She had participated in enough bat training to not be useless in a pinch, but she was not a fighter. She was especially not up to the task of fending off monsters attag her aeropne while in flight.

  She couldn’t properly see their attackers through the window of her passenger seat, given the speed and the dark. She did spot silhouettes in the fshes of blue as the monsters struck the pne’s shielding. They looked like round bodies with wings stig out, in fgrant defiance of aerodynamics. Armour pting dropped over the windows, cutting off her view entirely.

  “It’ll be fine, Mrs Tilden,” the man sitting opposite her said. Morris Manning was a slight man, short and lean. He didn’t look like much, but he was both her bodyguard and her minder. He erative from the US Department of Supernatural Affairs, what the US work had ultimately morphed into. On loan to the United Nations for this trip, he was a likely didate for reag gold rank without cores.

  “The pne’s defences ha?” Anna asked. She g her wife, asleep in the seat beside her. Susan could sleep through a bombing run.

  “It’ll hold up to attack food while, but the ons won’t be able to kill them. If they’re not enough to drive the creatures away, Mr Clovis will ha.”

  There were sixteen passenger seats on the pne, all occupied. Six were delegates sent to meet with the Asano , including Anna. Susan and a nine-person security detat occupied the remainis. Morris was the leader of the security ti, meaning he did the administrating and anising. The most powerful member of the group was a gold ranker, Patrick Clovis. His infrequent words came in a thick Bostonian at.

  “Not going out for some jumped-up sky chis,” Clovis said. “Do it yourself, Manning.”

  “Sadly, Mr Clovis, my power set is ill-suited fh-speed flight. Ms Keener, would you be so kind?”

  Another member of the security team got up and moved towards the back of the phere was a hat the rear partment that allowed people to exit mid-flight without disrupting the rest of the pne.

  “Travel in Europe is dangerous,” Morris expio Anna. “It’s not the vampires, though, but the monsters. The vampires don’t clear them out uhey threaten a blood farm or one of their other is.”

  “Oh, I had no idea,” she said lightly.

  An awkward smile crossed his face as he looked across at the former work branch director and current Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations Office of Supernatural Affairs.

  “Apologies, Mrs Tilden.”

  “It’s fine, Mr Manning. Monsters were only to be expected when approag the Asaories. The magic level is higher, making the monsters ensurately more powerful.”

  “We avoid referring to them as Asaories or anything simir,” another delegate said. “It implies that those nds belong to them and not the nations of Frand Slovenia.”

  Ma?l Baffier represehe French gover in exile. Anna didn’t point out that France, like most tries in Europe, hadn’t funally existed in well over a decade. The iations for who would join Anna on her visit to the Asano had gone on for weeks. Knowing Jason and his grandmother, the matriarch, she had a feeling on how they would respond to the self-invitees.

  The UN and the other faal and gover is hadn’t sulted Anna very much, despite her being the ostensible leader of the delegation. She’d been open about Asano wanting to recruit her, which had eroded trust in her as she had not pre-emptively refused. She remained in charge on paper, however, as without her, there would be ing eyes and ears on the ground ihe Asano . The delegates themselves were politis, and she was certain that most of the security team were all former or current intelligence operatives.

  The pne’s itent shaking stopped and the armour panels over the windows retracted. Moments ter, Kenner returned, dirty and drenched.

  “That,” she said, “was unpleasant.”

  She took the bag taining a ge of clothes from under her seat and then headed back to the rear partment.

  ***

  The captain had announced a short time ago that they were approag Asaory, prompting a scowl from the French delegate. Anna looked up from her tablet as Morris tilted his head, listening to something on his earpiece. He looked over and asked her to follow him to the cockpit.

  Susan stirred as Anna stepped past her.

  “Are we there yet?” she asked blearily.

  “Almost, love.”

  “Did I miss the meal?”

  “There’s a protein bar in the arm rest.”

  “Boo,” Susan jeered.

  Morris watched the exge with amusement before leading Anna to the front of the phe pilot had arrested the pne’s movement, tilting the engines for vertical take-off and nding mode. They were h near, but not directly over, what had once beey of Saint-étienne. After g the territory inally, Jason had reproduced the city, previously ravaged by vampires and then wiped out entirely by a transformation zone. Only the areas outside of the domain showed the broken remnants of vampiric occupation.

  Now, the ruins around the ’s domain had been cleared away, leaving only the city ihe domain of Jason’s power. The architectural style remaihe same, but there were distinct ges from when Anna had lived there as liaison. Largest was a massive expansion of green areas and waterways. Streams ran through parknds and a whole se of the city had als in pce of streets. What it did not have was an airport.

  “Ma’am,” the Captain said. “Our inal instrus were to nd at the former military base site, but it no longer appears to exist.”

  “It was there,” Morris said. “We had satellite footage from yesterday with it there. You know the Asano best, Mrs Tilden. Any suggestions?”

  “We wait,” Anna said. “I imagihis is something to do with Jason Asano’s fir for the dramatic.”

  As if waiting for her prompt, a the edge of the city was suddenly engulfed in fog. O cleared, there ace that looked like an oversized helipad, with a symbol of a pne painted on it.

  “I believe you have your nding zone, Captain,” Morris said.

  ***

  Two people were waiting as the delegation disembarked. One was Ketevan Arziani, assistant to the Asano matriarch. She had once been Anna’s owy, ba Australia during her work days. They had remained friends, only losing touch when the Asano had vanished. Susan gave her a wave, earning a quickly supressed smile but no other respoandio Ketevan was Rufus Remore.

  “Iing,” Morris murmured. “No Asano family members.”

  Anna uood that, in diplomacy, every choice sent a message, intended or not.

  “They want to show us that the is more than just the Asano family band,” she murmured back.

  “Show us, or show you?” Morris asked. “That’s your friend over there, isn’t it?”

  She gave Morris a side ghe man clearly did his prep work.

  As Rufus aevan approached, the security team took reserved defensive postures, cautious but not provocative. The exception atrick Clovis, the gold rariding out to position himself between the delegation and the representatives. Anna and Morris let out simultaneous sighs.

  “Clovis, you aren’t here to protect us from the Asano ,” Morris said. “Here, it would be poio try. If they want to do something to us, not even you stop them.”

  “Because of this guy?” Clovis asked, nodding at Rufus.

  “Yes. Clovis, you’re here to protect us from vampires and monsters, should anything g. Don’t be what goes wrong.”

  Clovis stared at Rufus for a long moment, then back at Morris. He growled like an animal but stalked back to the rear of the group.

  “Is he really the best you could get?” Anna said.

  “Sadly, yes,” Morris said. “Every stakeholder insisted on sending a gold ranker, but refused to volunteer one of their own. I had to sit through weeks of pointless staff proposals before they gave me this guy.”

  Ketevan and Rufus approached them, now that Clovis was out of the way. Ketevan smiled at Anna and Susan, but her focus was on Morris.

  “My name is Ketevan Arziani, chief of staff to the matriarch. This is Rufus Remore.”

  “Morris Manning, security detail chief.”

  “The patriarch would like to begin things socially,” Ketevan said. “Anna, Susan, please e with me while Mr Remore sees to the rest of yroup. Ohe luggage is unloaded from the p will be delivered to your aodations.”

  “You said Patriarch,” Morris pointed out. “Asano is back?”

  “No,” Rufus said. “He’s still iher world.”

  “Everything will be expio our satisfa, I assure you,” Ketevan tinued, prompting a smile to twitorris’ mouth. “Please see to the luggage. The staff will take it.”

  “The staff?” manning asked.

  A dozen cloaked figures maed out of nowhere, the cloaks empty but flowing, nebulous eye in each hood the size of a face. After raising an eyebrow, Manni about the task of getting the luggage unloaded and keeping the delegates settled. Anna was a little surprised that Baffier didn’t argue as he and the others were led away by Rufus. She’d been worried about the French diplomat, but he thankfully knew when to vent his frustrations and when to do his job. Left alone, Ketevan gave Anna and Susan a quick hug each.

  “Susan, I’m so gd you decided to e.”

  “It wasn’t easy ving this one,” she said, jabbing a thumb in Anna’s dire. “She thought it was too dangerous for me.”

  “How did you win her over?”

  “By pointing out that if she es and works for you, me bei behind would be even more dangerous.”

  Ketevan nodded.

  “I’m sorry that Jason’s offer put you in a tough spot. It would be great to have you here, though.”

  “It’s more plicated than that, Keti,” Anna said. “It’s not just about accepting a job or not.”

  “I know. And so does he, but we get to that ter. How about we have some brund catch up?”

  A stream of cloud rose from the tarmad turned into aop car.

  “Is this how it works here?” Anna asked. “Everything you need just magically appears? Things weren’t so aodating during my brief tenure as liaison here.”

  “It’s not usually like this, although more than back then,” Ketevan said. “For some things it is. If you want to knock out a wall in your house or something, you just ask.”

  “Ask who?”

  “The wall, I guess. Jason is more powerful, now, and his influence here is stronger. I don’t want to talk business, yet, but I should warn you that you ’t escape his attention here. He’s not actively watg, as I uand it, but if he wants to know what you’re doing or something you did, he does.”

  “That’s a little invasive,” Susan said, looking around as if she would spot drones spying on them.

  “More than a little,” Anna said.

  “You get used to it,” Ketevan said. “It’s odd, especially at first. It helps that Jason was more of a story than an actual presence, for a lot of years. But now that he’s more active, that’s good too. Old people have fallen down stairs that turned into a cloud cushion and they were unhurt. Kids have gotten stuck pces that just opened up to let them out.”

  She got into the driver’s seat of the car, Anna and Susaing into the back.

  “Oh, this is fortable,” Susan said. “I knoeren’t here for long, but I missed cloud furniture.”

  “Don’t get used to it,” Anna told her.

  “Or do,” Ketevan teased. “I wouldn’t hate having you back here food.”