Within the laboratories, the hum of modern machinery, the hiss and gurgle of various flasks bubbling on Bunsen burners, the alchemist could feel the tingle in the air, the sharp bite of reagents and a variety of projects the various members of Alchemy House were up to. The alchemist passed the variety of tables and work stations, hands held out to the sides and soon various reagents were gathered into strong arms.

"Tincture of Mercury, several vials of crushed ruby, essence of a gelatinous ooze, vial of fire crystal..." The alchemist continued gathering ingredients absent mindedly as she walked for a more secure room in the laboratory. The one used for things that may explode or for unstable projects.

Gathered items sat on a sturdy metal table, she rummaged through a utility box for magnetic chalk. Finding several sticks she set to work on writing out several equations on the black board painted wall. She had worked out the ratios for the reagents needed but one equation kept coming back to bite her. She tapped the equation with the chalk, snapped her fingers and a tome hovered by her side. She flipped a few pages and found the passage:

To you who have strayed onto the path of Philosophical Alchemy. Beware and warned you have tread into the domains of God which no living creature should ever dwell. Be that as it may, you are already aware of all the signs of disaster and the danger taking this path thus you are prepared to risk all for more knowledge. Having gathered the required strata and reagents you will need to construct a five layer array, placing each reagent in the illustrated segments according to lunar alignment, energy cycle and planetary dominance. From this point on you will be branded as evil, vile, a murdering monster for once you start this process it will never end. Creation of the Philosopher's Stone requires blood from a living human sacrifice in the center of the five layer array. A sacrifice for each layer and for each reagent used and one for every day of effectiveness desired.

If this realization has not curdled your blood and sent your soul running for the light then may justice look upon you with kindness if you are caught and may God have mercy on your soul if you succeed; should you find a change of heart, the stone may be made instead by . . .

The page of the ancient tome, the only one in existence was torn, missing half of the page with the illustrated diagram and the last of the paragraph. She sighed coming to the end of the torn page and had the book closed. She looked back at the equations and then started working out more equations under them.

"Why human life" Why the bloods of a living sacrifice" It makes no sense to shed blood. Granted it is one of the ultimate reagents in making personal artifacts for use, but the mingling of bloods negates that potency. Why consign something useful to acts that would label the alchemist a murderer" Blood does not contain enough energy, and the soul evaporates from the body once the blood is gone..." Her voice filled the room. She sat the chalk down and paced the room, the hover ball of light following her. She was grateful that most of the residents in Alchemy House were asleep, or she hoped they were. Her intrigues and studies could be grounds to land her in very hot water. She removed those thoughts from her mind and took up the chalk again and began to trace out the five layer array on the floor of the room. Half an hour later she stood up and rubbed her back. She studied the arrays and their layers for a long time. She even stepped out of the array to study it from various angles.

"So the sacrifice stands in the matrix and is bled. The blood flows out, follows the lines to Essence of Mercury. The next sacrifice bleeds into the crushed rubies, then the gelatinous ooze, followed by the Azure Salts and Powdered Soul Gem. The third will saturated the fire crystals.....but further bloodletting would just saturate them more and more....ruining the reagents. Why the blood" What are you missing Ammy girl" What are you missing?" She leaned against the metal table, bowed her head and thought about it all.

The clack of the door handle being manipulated started her from musings. She must have nodded off. Rubbing her eyes she waved a hand and the equations and arrays were blown away with the wind she created. One of the young alchemists was startled to see her.

"So sorry, Mistress Spiritor. I was not aware the volatile lab was in use." The young elf stammered.

"It is okay Salira. I was just doing some research and didn't want to contaminate the other experiments everyone else has been working on. I am done and you can use the room now."

Salira blinked. "Are you sure, Mistress" All professors have first rights to this lab."

Ammy just smiled tiredly and gave her a smile. "Yes. I am quite sure. I need time to think and a little rest. Alchemy is best done well rested. Enjoy your time and be safe." Snap of finger and the tome vanished and she left the volatile lab with her orb following her.

The mid afternoon sun felt good on her face as she moved about the streets of Rhy"Din city. A cup of coffee with enough expresso shots to keep a whole nation awake sloshed in its paper cup. A few people gave her a welcome nod or a simple glance to keep track of who was around them. She wasn't surprised that a few people knew of her. Rhy"Din had a way of multiplying the speed that gossip can travel. A red haired Lupinossai walking the streets in a business suit, well tailored and walking alone could only fit the profiles of those stupid, crazy or feeling very secure in their abilities to handle situations.

She'd just reached the intersection of Fish Way and Potters Lane when she noticed a few bouquets of flowers lay near the wall of a pottery shop. The faint traces of chalk outlining a body on the street told a tale that Ammy was interested in. She knelt by the flowers and looked over the faded outline. There wasn't much to gather other than the body appeared to have been laid out on the street in a purposeful matter and not a sprawl as if the person had died here. Setting her coffee down she decided a closer look was needed. She clapped her hands and stared at the chalk outlines hoping to glimpse any residual energy in the magic that soaked into everything. She gave a slight frown at what she saw.

Nothing" She clapped her hands again and stared once more, intently as if her mind could make the area go back in time to the events but nothing happened. Nothing again. No magical residue, no feelings of intent. Hell I can't even feel any magic.....sparking in me... She kept in her crouch, took a sip of coffee and settled her mind. Maybe it was just an off day for her. She snapped her fingers intent on creating a single flame. Nothing magical happened. Just fingers meeting flesh making the typical snapping sound. She stared at her fingers for a long moment as if betrayed by them.

A slight frown but she reigned in her confusion. Taking some chalk from an inner pocket of her suit jacket, she traced out a simple array and runes for enhanced sight and detection. Touching the array, she felt the familiar, comforting song of magic in her blood and bones, her golden eyes shining just a bit brighter than usual. The street around her, the people moving about and her awareness of time slowed and faded to a dim transparency. The chalk outline and bouquets of flowers glowed intensely. She could see the flowers laying on top a still chest of a middle-aged man. His skin was white, waxy and too pale to be natural. His fingers showed the stains and cracked nails of a man who worked closely with a variety of reagents for alchemy and never used a modern tool to grind and mix them. The attire he wore was simple and plain yet decent for a businessman of decent skill to afford. The brown twill pants, cornflower blue shirt and simple white smock stained with yellow splotches of arrow root powder showed no sign of scuffling or tears.

A glance to his neck showed a precise slash on either side of the neck. Not a long one from someone intent on killing quickly or in a fit of rage but a marked sign of planned intent. She looked over his arms and his wrists were the same. A glance to his feet showed a clue she'd missed earlier. He was bare footed but the feet were not blackened from walking without shoes. The victim's pants were still upon the body and being just an after image, she had no way of checking the inner thighs for what she'd expect was more precise incisions. There was nothing on the body that led to an identity of the man. She could spend her time at the Watch Headquarters looking through victim files if they allowed her but that would take more time than she had. She looked at the flowers and they glowed with a unique signature. It wasn't quite magic and yet quite living. Picking up a bouquet of dark blue roses, she noticed a few drops of blood on the thorns. The blood shimmered in her sight and she took a drop onto her finger tip. Gazing into it she saw a young woman, a teacher perhaps or clerk looking worn and care torn as she placed the roses at this site. There was no body on the ground in the vision Ammy saw.

With a small sigh she ran a finger over the array's outer edge and broke the magic conduit in it ending the spell. She took up her coffee and removed a single rose from the bouquet that held those blood drops on it. She didn't have an identity on the body but she had a way to track a living being who may very well know him. She took a few sniffs of the blood and cast about the street, sniffing out the air. There were too many scents here; trampling the smell of lemon and vanilla she got from the blood. She traced a glyph in the air with her fingers, a simple one for tracking and before her eyes a light mist of green started to drift from the intersection down Potters Lane. Several minutes and two thirds of her cup emptied, she found the green mist leading to a bakery, Aunt Renaut's Breads. She opened the front glass door and was submerged in a tide of smells; toasting sugar, rising dough and baking bread.

An elderly lady with flower dusting a face filled with the wrinkles of a life well lived greeted her and asked if she wanted a sample muffin. Ammy happily accepted the offer. As she pulled apart the muffin and ate it the woman took note of the rose Ammy held.

"A dark blue rose is not a common thing for a lovely woman of any regal bearing to have upon themselves. Did you lose someone recently my dear?" she leaned against the glass display of baked goods.

Ammy looked at the dark blue rose and smiled softly at the elderly woman. "No. I didn't lose someone. I found these roses by a wall where I can only assume some poor soul lost his life. It was at the intersection of Fish and Potters. Someone mentioned a lady working here placed the flowers at the scene. I was wondering if anyone here may have known what happened."

"Oh dear, you mean where they found Mr. Lancomb; dreadful news that was to his wife when the Watch came in here and asked questions. She works here but has been so distraught that I sent her upstairs to rest for the day." she said.

"I see. I'd rather not upset her more with any questions I have. You seem to know about this Mr. Lancomb. Maybe you could answer them?" Ammy asked.

"Edith Renaut. You must be Ammy Spiritor." Edith said with a sharp smile.

"How do you know about me, Edith?" Ammy asked.

"Well dear, there is only one Den City around these parts and only one red headed Lupinossai that people see in this city so often. That and your business attire and governors pin gave it away." Edith smiled. "I'm not a mystic, just observant. Now why would the governor of another city be interested in Mark's death?" She said.

"Straight to the point." Ammy said. A flash of a toothed grin and she too leaned on the glass case, lightly and put the dark blue rose on the glass top. "The death of Mark Lancomb has caught the attention of a few interested parties. They have contacted me to look into why he and....A few others have met the same fate." she said.

Edith made a keen scowl at Ammy and walked to a large bowl topped with plastic wrap. She took out a large ball of dough, floured it, and began to knead it as she talked. "It's no surprise that Mark has someone of your reputation looking into his death."

Ammy blinked. "Of my reputation' I wasn't aware I was known in Rhy"Din for investigating murders."

"Pah! It's not your investigating that has preceded you Ammy. Many know about your shop, the Alchemist's Fire. Hell many of my customers love looking at what you have or have had a lot of issues eased and solved from your talents in the magical arts; talents that lead you to having a legal right to open your shop. Do you realize how rare it is for alchemists to set up shop without having certain spells of bad luck happening to them or their shops" Your shop has thrived and they haven't visited you nor mentioned you around these areas yet."

"Who are you talking about?" Ammy asked.

"The Hands of Crimson, my dear. They are the watchdogs for most of the magical guilds and associations in this area. They are mostly harmless unless you've come up on the list to investigate by one of the guilds. When that time comes the person in question just vanishes. Just like Mark did for a while until the Watch found his body laid out like he was waiting for a coffin." Edith said.

Ammy listened and took mental notes about what she was hearing. The magic guilds here have a hit squad and make things smooth when issues erupt. Why do I get the feeling they have my name" she thought. "About Mark, Edith, would you happen to know why these Hands of Crimson would be after him or how you know it was really them and not some psychopath?"

Edith paused in her kneading and pulled out a rolling pin and went about smoothing out the dough. "I suppose this is the part where you'll want to hear that Mark was a kind, quiet man and rarely did things not thought kindly of. Anyone who gives you that basket of crumbs is willing to sell you anything. Mark was like most other people. Kind, helpful, a bit of a temper when you rubbed him raw, but outside of that, just a man coping with marriage and failure at having kids. Like most of us though, dear, he had skeletons in his closet. Denise often came into work with a few bruises she would pass off as being clumsy at home. Mark would never intentionally hit that woman. He loved her too much, but the tales about his temper at home make it easy to see him slipping and lashing out at her."

Ammy ate more of her muffin before she spoke. "So they couldn't have children. I assume one or both of them had physical issues in this department. I am sure being barren is not grounds for what was done to Mark. I know he was an alchemist. Did he dabble down paths he shouldn't have?"

"Maybe. It's not for me to condemn a man about his comings and goings behind closed doors. I just know that about a week before he vanished he was acting rather peculiar. Denise even said he was behaving oddly. Talking to himself a lot. Not the usual mumbling to keep track of something but full conversations and arguments. But it was in a language she could never make out. Some old language back in a realm called Earth. She did pick out two words from his episodes. Rouge Agua." Edith said as she cut out biscuits.

"Rouge Agua. Hmmm." Ammy said and pulled out a business card. She handed it to Edith. "Whenever Denise feels able to answer some questions, please, have her call my number. Thank you for the muffin by the way." Ammy headed for the door of the baker.

"I'll let her know deary. Ammy. Take care out there. These things you're looking into have a feeling that is quite off. Don't poke your nose where it may get ripped off." Edith said.

Ammy gave Edith a nod and left the bakery. She headed down the street for a local portal hub back to Den City. As she walked she let her mind click and clack on the few pieces of the puzzle she had. Magic guilds with a shared hit squad called the Hands of Crimson, several alchemists and citizens found dead with the same causes, and suddenly the Board of Alchemy wants me to investigate for them on a whim. Let's add in rouge agua or red water and now we have a picture that's murky as mud with a glimmer of real danger. No such thing as a peaceful day, eh Ammy girl?

(Many thanks go out to Mirius Mun and Andu Mun for a great job role playing with Ammy and Lahan.)

As soon as Lahan was ready, Ammy walked with her out of the Bristle Crios' Coven complex and they headed for the Market District of Rhy'Din city. She pulled out her cell phone and dialed Mirius' number. Lahan followed along, her mithril staff thumping softly as they walked for the city.

Mirius would pick up the phone. "What's up?" she asked when answering the phone.

"Hi love. Could you meet me at the shop in a few minutes" I have a break in that case I've been working on for the Board of Alchemists. The wife of the first victim finally gave me permission to break into her husband's lab and see what may have gotten him murdered. I'd really feel safe with you at my back with your guns." Ammy said.

Lahan listened to what Ammy said and frowned a little. She was hoping there would be no fire fight on a simple investigation. Then again, the stories Mako had told her about Ammy; anything could happen around this alchemist.

"Oh, I'm already at your shop. I was too lazy to make some food myself, so I came to steal some snacks at your shop. I'm up for it though. I'll see you here soon." Mirius said.

Ammy laughed. "Good. Don't eat too many. Oh, can you also bring a pistol for me" Pick out something that I can conceal. Not using my magic is making me feel naked and vulnerable."

"But I like you naked and vulnerable." She said giggling a lot. "Anyways, yeah I'll get some stuff ready real quick before you get here. By the way, how much resistance are we suspecting?" Mirius asked, wanting to know a bit of info before hanging up.

"Would you like me to go to this lab ahead of you Ammy?" she asked.

"No Lahan. We stick together. Given the circumstances, these suspects may find a blind woman too tempting not to snag." Ammy said to Lahan then spoke into her phone. "Honestly I don't know Mirius. These murders all seem creepy, efficient and sudden. We are just poking at a laboratory. Not really expecting trouble but just want to be prepared and I don't want to set off the public with panic seeing a lot of weaponry on us."

"Alright. Well, I'm gonna hang up and get all the stuff ready. Meet ya here soon, sweety. Love you." Mirius said. Mirius would take a teleport back home real quick and had started finding some things that they may need.

"Okay love." Ammy closed the phone and put it back in her pocket.

"I am not defenseless Ammy. I can keep myself safe." Lahan said.

"I'm sure that's what the dead alchemists and citizens thought too until they wound up on the streets murdered Lahan. Look....there's a group I am suspecting is behind all of this and if I am right, they know how to deal with anyone that can use magic." Ammy said.

Lahan swallowed a moment. "You don't mean....the Hands of Crimson, do you?"

"How do you know about them?" Ammy asked Lahan.

"I wasn't living at the Coven my entire time Ammy. I used to live in Rhy'Din for a year or two on my own before Miranda and Fiona found me. I've run into a lot of dark things in this city being someone versed in, well, death writing. That made me a high target to for the Hands of Crimson to watch. If they are caught up in this incident Ammy, please, stop the investigations now." Lahan said.

"No. I've been tasked to do this by the Board and I can't. One of my own students has lost her parents in this whole mess. I want to know what the hell is going on. If we just keep safe, go slow and be careful I am sure no one will bother us during our investigations into these murders. Besides, Mirius is the best shot with a gun I know in Rhy'Din." Ammy said.

"Well I hope we won't need the firepower when we do these investigations. Have you any thoughts which student of yours is messing with forbidden alchemy?" Lahan said.

"Not yet. The Academy library is my next stop after this Lab. Those reagents you said that were picked from the covens gardens are only called for by two books in that library. I am going to check to see if they are missing or checked out. Also, I am going to see who is living at the dorms in the Academy." Ammy said.

"You suspect it's a student living in the dorms?" Lahan said.

"Anyone else could just go and buy the reagents or pick them in the wild. Picking the reagents in the coven gardens means this is an amateur and it means they don't have many resources either." Ammy said. Soon they were at the Alchemist's Fire and she led Lahan inside.

"That does make some sense. What if they got the books some other way' Surely those books aren't the only copies in existence?" Lahan said.

"No other copies exist Lahan. I own one of them and have loaned it to the Library. The other one only exists at the Academy." Ammy went to get her leather satchel from behind the counter.

Mirius would return to the shop once she was done, although she had a regular looking backpack that was full of things. She was also wearing a white T-shirt and some black pants while still in her cat form. Mirius would wait in a chair and eating a bit more food.

"So you just keep a ton of creepy dangerous books around you at all times then, Ammy?" Lahan asked with surprise. The shop she was in felt very alive with magic and power. "I've never been in your shop before. It's amazingly powerful."

Ammy felt Mirius return and smiled when she looked to the chair. "Get everything love?" she asked.

"Mhm. Got plenty." Mirius would giggle and grin. "Who's the chick?" she asked pointing to Lahan.

"Oh, this is Lahan. Lahan, the voice you're hearing is Mirius, my wife. Mirius, Lahan is a witch from the Academy I teach at. She's also dating Mako." Ammy was soon packing her satchel with a variety of tools.

Lahan did notice the new voice that seemed to sound like a feline voice. "Hello. I didn't know Ammy was married to a woman who is a cat, I think."

"Oh, that's Lahan. Heard her talked about before. Mako talked about her too I think." though Mirius would giggle. "Well, I am Lupinossai like Ammy, but she helped make me a fantastic ring that can help me shape shift and I've been loving being a kitty lately."

"Oh?" Lahan looked over to where Mirius' voice was and moved closer to her. "May I touch you? To know what you look like?"

"Does it involve touching other whereabouts on my body to get all the details?" she asked Lahan.

Lahan blushed fiercely hearing that question. "Just your face."

"Oh, okay. Well, I was going to say I'm all for that too. Unless Ammy doesn't want other women touching me?" Mirius started laughing, but would go to guide one of Lahan's hands toward her face.

Ammy looked over at the women. "Lahan is very....very straight." she grinned almost done packing.

Lahan's hand was soon feeling the fur, muzzle, ears, hair, cheeks, jaw and neck. "You feel very pretty, Mirius. And Ammy is true. I like a man. Someone strong and caring, like her brother."

Ammy choked a little suppressing a laugh hearing Lahan and closed her satchel.

"You haven't had him behind closed doors then." Mirius gave a playful growl and giggled. "Thank you very much though, Lahan. You're pretty yourself." she said smiling and purring. Mirius would pick up her backpack and put it on. Although, she did pull out of it a small pistol with a silencer attached and handed it to Ammy. "Here, love."

Ammy moved over to Mirius and took the gun. She shoved it into her waist band of her jeans and put on her satchel. "Okay. Let's go see what Mark Lancomb was doing that got him killed." She'd lead them out of the shop and through several streets in the market district heading for a small house built behind a flower shop.

Lahan would follow them out, keeping close to them. "What do you suspect he was doing Ammy?"

Ammy readjusted the gun a bit more in her waist band. "Besides going insane the last week he was seen, I believe he was making a certain transmutation ingredient for philosopher stones. It's called Red Water. Very toxic and poisons the body; can cause mental hallucinations too."

Mirius would follow Ammy and Lahan out of the shop and was just being casual. She didn't even know where they were going anyways.

"Sounds risky." Lahan said.

"It'll be fine. Just don't poke around things too much." Ammy giggled. "This house is supposed to be there's. He ran a flower shop on the side when not doing alchemy." she tried to open the front door and it was locked. "Hmm. Guess we need to break in."

"Really' Just going to trash a man's front door in broad daylight?" Lahan chuckled. "Can Mirius deal with a lock?" she asked.

Mirius was already looking and inspecting the door and seeing what kind of lock it had even before Lahan asked. Mirius would see a deadbolt lock and below it a regular house lock; both needing keys. The door was wood so was the doorframe.

"She's on it Lahan." Ammy said.

Mirius would dig into her backpack for a moment and pulled out some lock picking tools and began picking the locks. It would take her seconds and then she was done and opened the door. "Years of thieving sure does pay off. Otherwise there wouldn't be so many thieves." she said giggling. She'd put the items back into her backpack

"Aw. I was hoping to deconstruct the door or blow it open." Ammy grinned.

"Ammy, not everything requires a kaboom as an answer. Alchemists......always blowing stuff up." Lahan moved inside the shop.

"I brought some of that too." Mirius winked to Ammy and would move inside. "Hey, I'm not an Alchemist and I love blowing stuff up too." she giggled

"You just like to play with explosives Mirius. Admit it." Ammy grinned then walked inside and her grin fell at what she saw. "Well, we have Demon's Heart, Moon Roots, Queens Mirror, Mandrakes, Harlequin's Kiss and several varieties of Mocking King growing in here not to mention a lot of other rare reagent plants for alchemy. Half of this is illegal to own let alone grow."

Lahan just looked at the threads of magic and all the colors they were in, touching all the plants and weaving into the shop walls as well. "This place is very alive with magic, Ammy. Just like your shop is." Among all the plants and tables, there might be seen a chemistry setup with glass vials and beakers with several full of glowing red liquid.

"Are you suggesting we steal a lot of it and make some money off it' Could maybe toss it in Tyris' direction." Mirius said grinning. Though she would close the door and lock it behind them since they were inside.

"Hmm. Tempting Mirius but it's all evidence.....really potent, dangerous evidence." She would spot the chemistry lab set up and moved over to the table. Looking over the set up she pulled out a small crystal wand and tapped the beakers full of red glowing liquid. The wand turned green. "Just a plant nutrient for fertilizing." She looked around. "Mirius, could you see if you can find any hidden doors or trap doors in the floor. This can't be his lab. It seems too....in your face and showy." she did notice a few books and thumbed through them.

Lahan just watched the lab, studying the ley lines around them. "I'm not seeing any malignant or evil threads in this room caused by illegal magic."

Ammy tossed the books onto the table. "Price lists and inventory for the flowers. Dang."

Mirius would look around the room. She was searching for cracks in the floor that maybe outlined paths or something elsewhere. She was also looking at the shelf Ammy was looking at and would examine behind the books, seeing if there was any hints or oddities. Then she was looking under tables and even going to find light switches to flip, but was flipping them in different orders. The room they were in was about a 50 foot square room with wood walls, several dirt stained rugs under the tables and no windows. The only door was the one they came in through. The switch flipping had several lights come and come off. The walls would seem normal to Mirius, though behind the books she'd find a small button set into the wall. She would go to press the button she had found and would quickly pull her hand back after quickly pressing it. Nothing came at her hand but her ears would pick up a muffled click under a rug under the table the chemistry set up was on.

"Under the rug." Mirius said when she heard the clicking. "Under that chemistry table. Move everything." She said to them and would go to help move things.

Ammy nodded and would give Mirius an hand moving the table away.

Lahan would look where the clicking sound was made. "Don't remove the rug just yet. He had a warding spell put in place." She moved over to them then knelt on the rug. She let her mind drift a minute and spooled up green and yellow ley line energy in her mind. Her hands glowed and she started weaving a spell over the rug that glowed like an orange set of scissors, quite large and see through. Spell complete she used the scissors to cut at certain points of the ward spell. The ward spell looked like a spider web and she was cutting various strands of the purple energy used on it to unravel the spell.

After they'd moved the table Mirius took some books, then would go to the door and stack the vertically upon each other by the door, but only did a few of them. They'd fall if the door was ever moved. "No one move these books." she said and then came over to them.

As Lahan worked Ammy watched Mirius. "What are you doing?"

"I relocked the door and have it closed so it looks like no one has come in unwelcomed. The books are in front of the door and vertically as they'll be able to knock over easily. If anyone comes back in, they'll knock over those books and we'll hear the thumps and will be our early alarm system." Mirius would grin.

"Good idea." Ammy grinned.

"The warding is gone." Lahan said finally.

Ammy moved over to the rug and pulled it back. A nice, heavy silver trap door was set into the floor and she could feel cold radiating from it. "Okay....now I'm getting some not so pleasant vibes behind that door. Think we found the real lab." She pulled open the door and the smell of mold, dampness and something dead was wafting up the dim staircase.

Lahan wrinkled her nose. "Who first?"

Mirius would pull out her own small handgun with a silencer. "On it." She said and would start going down the steps very slowly. Each step was slow and she was looking for any possible physical traps.The staircase Mirius was on was a sturdy wooden one, a bit slick and slimy from mold. As she moved down the steps several dull yellow lamps flickered to life as a step she walked on clicked. She would see a lab that was twice the size of the room above full of work tables, ingredients and several clear glass vats of putrid green liquid. A few wire cages lined the wall at the back of the lab but they seemed blood covered, filled with old fur and empty.

"Deifnitely found the crazy old man's basement." Mirius said as she slowly went down. Mirius was feeling more confident now with light everywhere and being able to see everything clearly, though she was still being wary of things here and there as she was down in the room. "All clear." she called up to them.

Ammy would soon be down the steps, giving Lahan a hand. She looked about. "Crazy.....is about right."

Lahan looked around and stayed close to Ammy. "A lot of violet energy down here. This place reeks of ill will and sorrow."

"Violet energy?" Ammy asked Lahan.

"Yes. Violet energy represents corruption, violence, illness and blockage. This place is not safe. Be careful Ammy and Mirius." Lahan started spooling golden energy in her head. Her hands glowed softly now. "I'll keep ready in case we need magical intervention. You two make the investigation needed and be quick about it."

"So, magical traps are around then?" Mirius asked Lahan.

"Not traps per say. More like unstable magic. Use caution. Something may blow in here; damn alchemists." Lahan said.

"I heard that Lahan. Don't make me take you off my Christmas card list." Ammy giggled and moved further into the lab.

Mirius began looking around some but not touching anything. "So, you're saying we're basically in a room full of gunpowder and there's some frayed wires nearby and still have electricity going through them' Metaphorically speaking."

"That's an apt way to put it Mirius. This person failed to set up safety wards like your wife Ammy has in her shop. Not only will this kill us if the lab goes but a good section of the block above us." Lahan said.

Mirius just sighed. "Should I just go back upstairs or something or go down the street' I mean, I don't know what does what here and if things go kablooey then someone's going to have to inform the family what just happened."

Ammy started inspecting everything on the tables. "There's a lot of dried out mandrakes down here. Caked blood and obscured arrays. What were you up to Mark." Her crystal wand was gently pressed against several different vials on one table. The wand changed color progressively from clear to black. "Well....he had a Miser Rack set up.....for human transmutation. You'll be fine Mirius unless you go mixing ingredients together. So just relax. Check to see what?s in those glass vats. I have a feeling he was trying to make bodies."

Mirius just sighed and she'd go to the other side of the room to see what was in the glass vats Ammy was speaking of. As Mirius reached the glass vats full of cloudy green liquid she'd notice labels on them: ~Lilly: First Body~ ~Lilly: Second Body~ ~Lilly: Third Body~ All had the word 'Failed' painted across the labels. Mirius would look at the labels and then tried to see if anything was inside the vats. "Hey, Ammy. Was this guy married or have a wife or something?" she asked.

Hands still glowing Lahan started weaving magic that looked like basket weaving, the golden energy slid out across the lab and held against the walls. "I am working on containing and stabilizing the magic Mirius."

Ammy looked over to Mirius as she found a desk drawer full of tattered notebooks; pay dirt. "Yes. Denise is her name. They were trying to have a child for a long time but kept failing. I think they were sterile or something." She thumbed open the books.

Inside the vats, if Mirius stared long enough with her kitty sight, she'd see a half complete body of a small child in the first vast, a formed but horribly mutated body in the second vat and a child in the third vat with a gunshot wound in the head. Mirius looked at it all closely and listened to Ammy. "Well, I think we know what he was up to then." Mirius looked over at Ammy, "I think this dude went crazy wanting a kid and tried making some himself."

"The lab is now stable. If it blows, it won't collapse the street or block above us." Lahan started spooling more magical thread in her mind and started working on making a coating layer to cover the objects in the lab to prevent explosive results.

"Seriously?" Ammy said to Mirius. She took up the books and packed them into her satchel then went to look at the vats as well. She peered into the liquid. "So....he was making homunculi instead of a real person. They are like demon possessed dolls that happen when you try to create life with magic from scratch." She explained to Mirius. "I bet that's why he shot the last one; probably tried to attack him for his soul."

"That sounds confusing and really weird." Mirius stated.

"I know hon. Let's just say that using magic to create life opens this thin rift between us and some hell-like dimension. This allows the demon to slip through and into a doll like figure the spell actually creates to make life. Think of it as if someone took the story of Pinocchio and made it a horror story." Ammy said.

Soon Lahan's weaving was done and a headache was creeping into her head. "The lab won't explode now at all. So we are safe for a longer investigation. Did he really try to make life?" As Lahan spoke a few dark green vines slithered across the floor for her feet.

"I think that was called Chucky." Mirius said to Ammy. "And thank you, Lahan. Made me feel much better." she purred.

"You're welcome Mirius." Another step and Lahan felt something wrap around her ankles and pull her off her feet. She hit a table and her mithril staff clattered to the floor.

Ammy turned. "Lahan are you okay?"

Several vines were slithering from around the vats for Mirius. They had red pods on them that would open with snapping, sharp teeth. The vines were starting to drag Lahan across the dirty floor.

"Something has my feet!" Lahan said. She rolled onto her back and looked at her feet seeing the slithering ley lines of green and violet twined together in the vines that wrapped around her ankles. She started weaving magic and hacked at the vines with blue energy woven into an axe.

Mirius would turn to see Lahan being attacked by something, but by the time she had turned around something had bitten her in the arm and she shouted and backed away from the vats. "What the he hell are those things?" Mirius said and held the wound on her arm groaning a bit from the pain.

Ammy whirled to Mirius now and saw the pods. "A living Medusa Snapper. Luckily the red pods aren't poisonous just hurt when they bite. You have to watch out for..."

The vines snapped and Lahan scrambled away on her hands and knees. A hiss filled the room and a large white pod behind Lahan appeared and spat a liquid at the blind witch. It missed and hit a table turning it to stone with a loud, sickening shriek of wood fiber solidifying.

"....white pods..." Ammy heard the hissing. The pod was near the stairs going up. "Lahan has the lab secure with magic. Just shoot the pods and we get out now." Ammy pulled her pistol and started firing at the white pod. "Don't let the spit hit you."

"Remind me to make sure we have none planted in the gardens!" Lahan snapped at Ammy and felt for her staff.

Mirius would move to the side some, then had started digging in her backpack. "Permission to blow the place up?" She spoke quickly and then pulled out some C4. "I'll explain why I have this later." She said. Her other hand was moving to grab her pistol.

Ammy looked back and blinked. "Right....later.....you'll explain why you have C4 on you and didn't share." She fired a few more rounds at the white pod, most of the rounds were nicking the pod but not penetrating. "Can the spell contain a C4 explosion, Lahan?"

Finding her staff Lahan got to her feet. "Knowing I was coming with you, it's prepared for an Ammy explosion."

"I have an explosion named after me?" Ammy was stunned hearing that and kept firing. "Permission granted Mirius but we need that pod taken out or we aren't making the stairs up."

Mirius would fire some shots at the plant, though she'd stop as most of her attention went to setting the C4 she had and sat under the table for some protection while she set a timer on it. "Going to put a timer on it, how long will it take to kill those plants?" She called out.

"With just one pod" Unless you have something with more punch on you, may take a few minutes. Lahan, can you hit it with your magic or should I burn a spell up?" Ammy asked.

"I can try something Ammy. Just keep it distracted so I don't get hit." Lahan started spooling yellow lay energy and began to weave a spell that had no shape but looked like pure fire.

Ammy kept firing at the white pod while keeping out of range of the red pods. While under the table Mirius would spot a hidden compartment with a few stashed notebooks in it.

"I'll set it for 5 then." Mirius set the timer for five minutes and then placed it down. Then she went to the backpack again and pulled out a compact SMG and a couple clips of ammo. She would come from out of the table and began shooting at the pod of the plant. The pod would hiss and flail as the SMG blew chunks out of it, spilling clear sap on the vines around it, turning the plant slowly to stone. "Don't think we need the spell Lahan."

Lahan held the spell just in case. "Do you have what you need Ammy?"

"Ammy, think I saw something under the table. Check under it. I'll keep the plant busy." Mirius called over to her.

Ammy moved to the table quickly and looked under it. She found the note books and pulled them out, stuffing them into her satchel. "Okay....let's get upstairs before we become the next Darwin Award winners." She moved for the stairs helping Lahan up them.

Mirius would grab her backpack, put it back on, loaded in another clip and fired some other shots into the plant to make sure they had some breathing room to get out of the basement as quickly as possible Lahan moved up the stairs with Ammy's help. Ammy moved Lahan out onto the upper floor, climbed out quickly and held the door ready to slam down once Mirius was out.

"The spell will take the explosion. We'll be safe up here." Lahan reassured Ammy.

Mirius would quickly move up the stairs and into the ground-level room where they would be safe. "Okay, close that thing. Probably only got a minute left on that timer."

Ammy closed it and then drug over a heavy bag of fertilizer she found and moved everyone away from the door. The floor rumbled soon and a loud explosion was heard but the upper shop was fine. Ammy sat on the floor panting. "Was he killed for that' I did find a small portion of red water in one of the Miser Racks but not enough to kill him over it."

"Perhaps it's the Hands of Crimson not wanting him to keep trying or something Ammy. Geeze....we could've been killed down there or worse." Lahan could smell blood. "You're hurt Mirius. Let me heal you."

Mirius would come to sit by Ammy and set the gun down, grunting. She hissed some from the pain, but she'd dig into her backpack and pulled out a small medic kit....or she was about to until Lahan offered her help. "Oh....thanks. Really appreciated." She smiled.

"Well I got all of his books....I think so I hope to find something in them." Ammy sighed a little. "And we didn't die Lahan. That was nothing."

Lahan started weaving red magic over the wounds and the torn flesh and fur would start to mend and regrow. "That....was nothing" A hissing plant that can turn people to stone? Yeah, I didn't see it turn but I damn well heard it petrify something."

"Ease up Lahan. Thought being with my brother you'd be used to my family's brand of crazy." Ammy chuckled and looked at all of the illegal plants. "What do we do with all of these?"

Mirius smiled at the healing. "You see, this is why she brought me, Lahan." She chuckled. "She doesn't know what she's doing half the time so she needs someone to cover her butt."

"For once I'll agree with Mirius on that." Ammy sighed in relief. "Perhaps we should turn this all over to the Board or confiscate it. The garden I have on the second floor of the shop could take them all up."

"I'm pretty sure burning or ruining this area up here will not go well with the remaining wife, Denise. How about we leave and not destroy any more evidence the Watch could have used to investigate these murders. Not you Ammy. Let the authorities do their job for once." Lahan said.

"Oh, and the C4....I thought we were going to go on a fun adventure, and when I thought of laboratory I thought of this big awesome, door that was so secure that the only way through it was to blow it open. There was a door, but it was an easy door." Mirius said.

Ammy just laughed. "Instead you blew the lab and its little monsters. Good thinking Mirius." She looked to Lahan and sighed. "I can't stay out of it Lahan. The board appointed me. If I piss them off they may send the Hands of Crimson after me. We will be fine if we keep our wits. We survived this didn't we?" She sounded optimistic.

"I'd say leave the plants here. Can't take them to the Coven if you suspect a student doing what this guy was doing. You're shop could be safe but what if you're caught with them' Then what? You go to jail?" Lahan said.

"Yeah....I've been watching way too many movies lately. Forgot that's not always the case when it comes to secret laboratories and things." Mirius said and would just sit there for now. Though she wasn't sure what to think on this whole board of alchemy thing.

"Yeah....but the Watch won't know what the hell is hear and how dangerous it is. They could just dump it out in the street then we have a lot of issues. Hmmm." Ammy got up and went to each plant and took samples from each of them and put them into her satchel. She then pulled out her cell phone and made a call to Andu.

"True..." Lahan gave up. "You're wife is reckless and stubborn." She said to Mirius.

"Yeah, she's like that." Mirius said to Lahan. "So...you're hooking up with Mako' He been nice to you?"

Lahan blushed a little. "Mako is....nice. Mostly we just walk and talk when we can. He's....full of secrets I can tell. And you're the wife Ammy speaks about. At first I thought Mirius was a man's name." Lahan said to Mirius.

"You thought I was a man?" Mirius asked baffled. "And Mako's definitely got lots of secrets. If you want to find his weakness though, wear a cute maid dress. Don't ask, just wear one. You'll see what I mean later." she giggled.

"A....maid's dress?" Lahan sounded baffled. "I....don't know about that Mirius....really....we just like walks and talks."

A call that's answered quickly, sort of . "Jus.....BOOOM!!" The rest of the greeting is drowned out by the sound of an explosion in the background. "Okay, Hi, Ammy. What's up?"

Ammy about dropped the phone and held it away from her ringing ear. "What was that?"

Andu chuckles. "Oh, That was an old T-72 I was using for target practice; finally managed to get a grenade to drop into the open top hatch."

Ammy just shook her head in surprise then spoke up. "I need a favor."

"Anything, Sis. What'cha need?" Andu said.

"High class, very illegal and lethal plants at an....investigation I am doing. Need you to beam them out and keep the locked away from the public. That okay?" Ammy said.

Andu snorts in amusement. "I thought you were going to ask for something difficult. That's easy, even got a new level Gaia just had to generate we can drop them in. No access outside of the transporter. Just need the location and all that."

"Good. I'm sending you the coordinates now. Once the plants are gone we can leave the lab without having possible novices stumbling on these plants." Ammy started punching in the lab's coordinates.

At which point Gaia takes the coordinates, and transports in a floating skull that carefully locates all the plants, and any possible seeds and spores they may have dropped. That done, then columns of blue light form around each item, quickly fill with golden sparkles and fade, taking the plants with them.

"Thanks Andu. I'll....explain things later. Take care." Ammy said.

"You to, Ammy, and while I look forward to an explanation, one isn't required. Not amongst family." Andu said.

"Gotcha. Enjoy blowing up more stuff. I'll try to avoid doing that myself." Ammy then ended the call and looked to the girls. "Okay. We can leave now."

"Yes. Let's leave here. I am sure someone has heard the gunfire and explosion. Just glad we did no damage to the market district itself." Lahan slowly stood up. "Your wife suggests I wear maid dresses for your brother. What does she mean by that?"

"If it makes you feel better, my name is really Nadine if it helps imagine that I really am I woman, although I don't like that name." Mirius giggled softly, and giggled more hearing Lahan ask Ammy the question

Ammy just blinked at Lahan then at Mirius and back. "We'll talk about that later Lahan." She moved for the door and moved the undisturbed books out of the way.

Lahan was just baffled and would follow them. "Do men like those things?"

Once Ammy was on Academy grounds, the jittery nerves left and she breathed a sigh of relief. Maybe Lahan had spooked her a bit with all of the warnings not to continue the investigation. She headed directly for the library and spoke with one of the librarians.

"Hello dear. May I inquire about any recent check outs on a certain book?" Ammy asked.

The librarian on duty was a wispy looking dryad that appeared to be related to a willow tree. It gave a razor sharp smile. "Why, of course, Professor Spiritor. Which book would that be?"

"Transmutations in the Night by Alibor N"tralmon." Ammy said.

The dryad pursed its lips and half closed its eyes. It scanned through the variety of papers and books that seemed an extension to the librarian. After a few moments the dryad looked at Ammy once more with amber eyes.

"Only two have people have checked that book out recently. It is still checked out by a senior student, Jaren Stot. The other person is a second year student, Jenny Le Trell." The dryad said.

Ammy twitched an ear hearing those two names. "How many days did Jenny Le Trell have the book checked out?"

"Three days." The dryad said.

"Thank you for the information. I will be reserving a study room for private use for the day." Ammy said.

The dryad noted the request. Ammy left the librarian alone and went to a study room. She closed the door behind her and started to empty her satchel, arranging the note books from Lancomb's laboratory, notes from several files the Watch had on the murder victims, and an audio recorder. She took a seat and opened up the first of five of the Lancomb notebooks and began to read. After an hour of reading Ammy tapped the recorder and began to speak.

"My name is Ammy Spiritor, Alchemist and Professor of the Bristle Crios Academy. I have been tasked with investigating a series of murders that the Board of Alchemy and Transmutation Practices have taken an interest in the matter; particularly, one Director Terwin P. Lewit. His request that I investigate as a means of renewing my Alchemy License is one demand short of blackmail. He wishes for a new method of creation for the Philosopher's Stone. But I digress and shall proceed to record my findings so far.

Eleven murder victims have been found so far. Three victims are registered alchemists with the Board, seven are non-magical citizens of various occupations and the last....one Jaren Stot, a promising pupil of my Philosophical Alchemy lectures."

She stopped the recording, cleared her throat and looked at the notes she'd made from the Watch files. Her hands traced over the photo copy of a young man, barely into his twenties, full of potential and a razor sharp mind. She looked over the notes she'd made on his case.

The victim was found on the main street of Rhy"Din city just a block from the Alchemist's Fire. The young man was dressed in the school uniform for Bristle Crios Academy. The body was stripped of all possessions and identifying papers. A confirmation by the young man's relatives makes this victim one Jaren Stot. Stot is the eleventh victim the 4th Precinct of the Rhy"Din Watch to be found in a single day. Coroner's examination shows the same surgical incisions as the other bodies. Any witnesses questioned do not recall anyone dumping the body. Reports claim Jaren Stot was boarding at an apartment complex on the west side of Rhy"Din city. No permission has been allowed by the parents for the apartment to be searched yet.

Ammy took out a bottle of water from her satchel and took a long sip. Stot's death was an even closer touch upon her realm of reality than Jenny losing her parents. Were her students being targeted or was this just a mere coincidence of someone being in the wrong place at the wrong time" The idea made her shiver and she put those thoughts aside for now. She looked over the first notebook of Lancomb's again with a deeper shiver running through her.

page 4, March 3rd, 2013, I just can't stand it, the way she looks at me. Accusing eyes that bore into my heart, as if to blame the lack of a child upon me; Denise knows we are both barren. What does she want of me" To create life with my talents in Alchemy' To break the laws and lose everything we've worked hard to have in this city' I will try to get her to go to the specialist again. Maybe there is something they are missing that'd let us have a child" One can only hope.

March 5th, 2013, The doctors of this town are useless and Denise will not go to a cleric for a divine blessing to have a child. She's given up hope on holding a little girl or boy and she refuses to hear the offer to adopt a child. Again she fastens me with that look to do something for her, like a husband should to fix an issue. I cannot simply fix the lack of a child like I can a broken pipe, or making a potion to cure a cold. I will try to do something to soothe her if I must. May God forgive me, but I'd rather anger the divine than live under the roof with someone I love that harbors bitterness at me for not using my talents.

page 8, March 15th, 2013, The addition of the laboratory under the shop has been done. The carpenter and contractor were happy enough to keep quiet about this after I pressed enough silver crowns into their empty pockets. I've made new equipment for this venture and have enticed Miss Mercer to import the long list of exotic reagents to my shop. I hope my offering to give her all the Rouge Agua that this venture will produce as a byproduct will keep her quiet. I swear I hear footsteps following me these days. Maybe the Hands of Crimson know what I am doing, but unless someone blabbed, they shouldn't. I am just jumping at shadows, perfectly natural for working on taboo alchemy. I bought several books from the Alchemist's Fire on Advanced Transmutations. They aren't exactly what I need for human transmutation, but I can cobble enough of the principles together to make it work. The work will have to wait though. Something has crashed in my flower shop upstairs. If Denise damages another Bleeding Heart I will scream. Such a bumbling, clumsy woman.

page 10, March 20th, 2013, I don't understand what I am doing wrong. Human life shouldn't be more complex than most life to create with Alchemy. I've followed Mrs. Spiritor's writings in her book, The Blind Alchemist and Morals, but it all lead to that thing. Lilly should have been created perfectly; instead the vat holds something barely formed and putrid. The stink from the body was hard to clear out without alerting Denise to something going on in the new "root cellar" for delicate bulbs and night orchids. I am missing something vital here. I need more information and any vendor with the books I want will ask too many questions. I can't trust going back to the Alchemist's Fire. Mrs. Spiritor is no dimwit and she may have cause to poke that nosey snout of hers into why I want some very off topic books. Yet she seems the specialist in the area of taboo transmutations. I should contact my great nephew. He's a student at that Academy that Mrs. Spiritor lectures at. Maybe he could help me out some.

page 14, March 30th, 2013, The lecture notes from my great nephew helped tremendously. The boy is bright but naive, believing I was just curious about Philosophical Alchemy in an academic way. He promises to bring me a book later that would answer most questions I have as long as I get it back to him promptly. Lilly's second body did better, but it would not stay alive for more than a minute and just devolved into another grotesque horror. I've run out of reagents I need and Miss Mercer is no longer buying my excuse that I am running an exotic flower shop. I have to get them elsewhere. Maybe Jaren will know some way of swiping some reagents for me from that academy.

page 16, April 5th, 2013, God is being cruel to me. Lilly's third body went very well. She breathed, moved and woke up when I pulled her out of the vat. But her eyes. Oh God, her eyes were solid black. She tried to strangle me when I helped her out of the vat. Had I not shot her, she would have thrown me into the vat to drown. I can't keep doing this. Too many people are suspecting I am up to something. I've stopped ordering things for my business and they are all asking what has gone wrong the false ventures I told them about. I am sealing my research notes, arrays and this journal with the lab tonight. I can't risk being found out and being thrown into prison or worse for the rest of my life. Though, Jaren did guess at what I was doing when I asked about the reagents the academy had. He suggested I visit The Crucible in the Smithing District and look into some oddities they had there. That is where I am heading tonight.

That was the end of his personal notes. The other note books held his calculations, array designs and theories. He had really done well cobbling together the taboo methods from lectures that she knew she'd on purpose with held information on. She did notice a bridging method Mark had used to make the arrays work. Something he called an "Emotional Bridge" or "Intent Gap" that bypassed a few rules and equations that should've made the transmutations impossible. Ammy just snorted thinking about that.

She turned the recorder on again. "These victims, found so far all have been drained of blood, all exhibit the same incisions to implement this blood draining. At first, nothing was present to tie any of these murder victims together. One alchemist was a simple flower seller; the other was a transmutation specialist following the letter of the laws imposed by the Board. The third alchemist was a peddler in reagents and artifacts. I have no identity on him since the Watch listed no facts. The man appeared to have no living relatives in the area and his identity is chalked up as another John Doe found dead. His business affairs though seem to have included the artifact and antiquity shop, The Crucible. I will be investigating that shop as well as the apartment of the last victim, Jaren Stot. The rest of the victims, aside from Jenny Le Trell's parents, were transients and homeless people.

When looking at this group nothing ties them together. I have evidence, notebooks from the deceased Mark Lancomb's hidden alchemy laboratory, under his flower shop that sheds new light on this situation. Lancomb was attempting human transmutation to give his barren wife a daughter. In doing so he has made dealings with Ms. Mercer, Jaren Stot and quite possibly the John Doe from the Crucible shop. As to the angle of Jenny's parents, I am unclear at the moment but I will be looking into all of these facts further.

Should I hazard a guess, someone is possibly making a Philosopher's Stone and these victims were simply the primer for such a stone. A Philosopher's Stone would require five sacrifices for the arrays used, and six sacrifices for the reagents, one sacrifice for each reagent that is. Then they'd need more sacrifices to represent how many times the stone will work equal to the number of sacrifices made. Dear gods....there will be more murders. This is just the tip of ..."

"Tip of the ice berg, Professor Spiritor?" Said a male voice behind Ammy.

Ammy jumped and scrambled out of her chair, whirling to meet the owner of the voice. A man in a simple business suit of dark blue, pen striped with red, stood with the door closed behind him. His face was obscured by a grinning theatre mask of red ceramic. Silver hair teased the edges of the mask and flowed to his shoulders.

"Please, dramatics are not in order, professor." the main said with a voice that was used to getting its way.

Ammy's eyes narrowed at the man and she moved for the satchel where her gun lay hidden. The man made a simple gesture and her satchel flew to his hand before she could reach it. He rummaged through her satchel and pulled out the gun and trained it on her.

"You are looking for this weren't you? It's a nice gun, small enough to conceal, packs a good punch and won't kill right away. Honestly though, you would fire a gun inside an Academy' Would you be willing to risk sending a bullet through these walls and into a student who is simply trying to study for an exam?" The man scoffed.

He tossed the satchel back to Ammy and still held the gun on her. Ammy caught the satchel and gave the man a long low snarl before speaking. "Pull the trigger. Go ahead. Kill me."

The man tilted his head slightly. "Now why would I have need for firing a gun inside an Academy and killing a well known teacher" I am merely keeping that brush fire you call a temper in check. I should be dead by now with a woman of your caliber of magic and skill but it would seem something is off, isn't it' That is why I stand here holding the gun and you are not moving. I could kill you quietly with magic, walk out of here like another visitor of the Academy or perhaps the guise of a parent looking in on their child and they would find your body eventually. That would be a waste of talent." The man removed the guns ammo clip and cleared the chambered round. He pocketed the rounds and tossed the gun onto the study table.

"Well if you are not going to kill me, then I suppose you are not from the Hands of Crimson?" Ammy said. One had held the satchel, the other hand slid into it from the back, blocked from sight.

"I wouldn't say the option to kill you is off of the table yet. Many see my red mask and assume I am part of the phantom death squad called the Hands of Crimson. They have as much power as the monsters under the beds of children. Fairy tales are easy to enforce if a few people go missing and a name of a watch dog group is mentioned. I am a simple warden of the ways of the arcane. I am to keep the peace when certain organizations start to get ruffled. For instance, the Board you are working for. Haven't you wondered why they want a Philosopher's Stone so badly they've come to pester an alchemist that is labeled a loose cannon?" The man said.

Her hand closed around a long, slim lipstick case within the satchel. "That question has repeatedly come up. I am more curious as to what any of the victims have done to warrant their deaths. Did you kill them?"

"Hmm. You honestly expect the culprit would show up, in the middle of the day, to banter with you in the middle of an Academy chalked full of your allies" I am going to have to give you a D- for logic, my dear. Really now, you are a teacher here" My, my, the standards have fallen in this Academy, but I will be nice and offer some advice. You are on the right path about a Philosopher's Stone being made, however, the reasons why and who it is I shall leave to you puzzle out as fast as you can. You are in a cat and mouse game, Mrs. Spiritor. You are the mouse and the cat is starting to wake up from all of your squeaking. Now, I must be off." The man said.

"How about you stay and answer more questions." Ammy pulled out the lipstick case and gave it a twist. Two taser darts exploded from the end, streaking for the man.

A flick of his hand, and the darts were sent back to Ammy. She yipped and hit the floor twitching as the taser ran its course. The man came over to her and knelt by her side. He pulled the darts out and tossed them aside.

"Let this be a lesson for the day that if you think anyone is just going to roll over in this investigation for you, you will find your life running out." The man stood, dusted off his knee and left the study room, closing the study room quietly.

Several minutes passed before Ammy could control her own body and she sat up with a groan. She hated this case more and more. Now she had another factor in the case; a warden of magic. She rubbed the back of her head, gathered up her things and retreated to her quarters in Alchemy House. She did ask if anyone saw a man with a red mask and blue suit come through the Academy but no one had seen a red mask and several visitors had worn blue suits. Ammy was feeling like she was the mouse, and if he wasn't the cat and could get to her easily, then who was she really up against"