The Return of the Order: Act 13

It was just a short carriage ride from the station to Undertaker’s shop. The tension was palatable as they rode through the dirty, crowded streets. Louisa rode with the hood of her cloak up, hiding her features from anyone who cared to look. The sun was already low in the sky as they pulled up outside the shop. Alighting from the carriage, she ushered the group into the dimly light shop where William and Undertaker were waiting.

“William, I didn’t expect to see you so soon.”

“Given the immensity of the situation, there is no time to lose.”

“What do you mean?”

William removed his glasses and cleaned them before continuing, "It would seem that the danger you face is greater than we anticipated. A faction of the reapers has taken it upon themselves to remove any trace of otherworldly creatures from this world."

“Reapers, so he wasn’t lying when he said he was working on orders.”

“No, it would seem not; however, I am yet to discover who issued those orders.”

Louisa’s eyes flashed black. Unphased, William replaced his glasses.

"I can assure you that those under my management, and Undertaker, have nothing to do with this. They may be unconventional in many ways, but there has always been an understanding that your kind has a role to play, within the rules, of course."

Louisa's anger rose at his matter of fact manner; in her experience, it was the more flamboyant of the reapers who had a tendency to work outside the rules. She chose her words carefully, "it is not one of us that has a history of breaking the rules."

“No, I understand your concerns, but even with his history, this is beyond his capabilities, and he has executed himself amicably since the final fight with the angel. However, I understand your reticence to believe me, so I asked him to join us here.”

Louisa growled; she had only met the red reaper once; however, she had heard enough of his exploits to take Malphas’ warnings about him seriously.

William ignored the sound that emanated from her, “Grell, hiding is not becoming of you.”

“I wasn’t hiding, I just wanted to make the most of my entrance.”

A flourish of red appeared from a dark corner at the back of the room. "Despite my heartbreak at Sebby's decision to choose you over me, I am bound by a promise never to hurt any of you, as are all of us that were present that night."

Confused, Louisa looked at William, “I don’t understand.”

"It's quite simple," explained William. "While his motives were purely selfish, Sebastian, Malphas’, actions that night helped to maintain the balance between the human and non-human world. Had he sided with that damned angel, things would have been very different. We are grateful for that, and coupled with the promise already made by Undertaker to your mother, the decision was made by the four of us to protect Malphas’ family for as long as you continued to maintain that balance.”

“Four, I see only three of you.”

"Ah, yes, I do not believe you have ever had occasion to meet the fourth member of my company. Ronald, if you would."

From the darkness entered another male, similar in dress to William and with the same detached air. He bowed to the family, pushed his glasses firmly on his face and remained silent.

Louisa looked at Undertaker, who giggled, “see dearie, since you came back, we have been watching over you all, even Malphas. We have stayed out of the way, simply watching, not doing anything until we were sure that the threat was real and beyond anything you could handle alone. But now we cannot simply stand by and watch the balance be tipped again.” He glared at William as he spoke the last words.

William coughed uncomfortably, “I, I cannot be held accountable for following the rules. Things became complicated when Malphas was bound by the human, and you returned to the demon realm and aided your father."

"How did you know about that?"

William’s cheeks tinged red, “I have access to all the cinematic records.”

“You have been reading my record, how much?”

The redness spread. William took off his glasses. He began cleaning them again, "Only when their content began to make the other books in the shop shake. I, I, er, skipped over anything not related to the visions, the events in the demon realm or the new threat to this realm.”

A grin began to form on Louisa's face, she had never seen William flustered before their meeting a few nights before, and now he could barely look her in the eye. Under different circumstances, she would have continued the line of conversation and enjoyed watching him become more flustered. However, now was not the time.

“The shop? Not the library?”

“No, your record was removed to the shop after your encounter with the angel. It remains here along with several others, including those of your children. A decision I am very glad we took, as it stopped Peter from knowing who you were, at least until the other night.”

As he finished, his gaze fell on Lilith. A smile spread across her face as she met his gaze, and for a brief moment, everything stopped as the assembled group watched and waited. A squeal from Grell broke the silence and the moment between William and Lilith. Grell opened his mouth to comment, only to close it again sharply when William turned to him and glared. Louisa took the opportunity to continue the conversation.

“How much of this does Malphas know?”

"Only that you all faced a new threat and were coming to London. We didn't want to tell him anything that may put his human master at greater risk."

“Then I need to go to him now. What do you know of his current master, the one that was able to call him by name?”

“That is information that you need to gather from Malphas; we cannot interfere there.”

Louisa shook her head and sighed in exasperation at the head reaper. Her children and Margaret stood with three reapers, one of which she had no reason at all to trust, and an ex-reaper who had kept her safe while her life hung in the balance over 17 years ago. Her choice to trust them was limited, the danger to her family and others like them was very real, and only by trusting them could she reach out to Malphas. With a heavy heart, she turned to Margaret, "You and the children must stay here while I speak to Malphas. If it is safe to do so I will send for you.” Turning to Undertaker, she continued, “I am leaving them in your care, see that nothing happens to them,” her eyes flitted to William, “nothing at all.”

Undertaker giggled, “I will care from them as if they were my own, dearie.”

Louisa kissed the children, “I will be back; trust Undertaker and watch the red one closely.” She felt Grell pouting at her words but chose to ignore it, turning to Margaret, she continued, "call me if you need me, I will hear you."

Margaret hugged her, “we will be safe here.”

William looked at his watch, “you must hurry, there is a carriage waiting to take you to the house, it is not far, I will bring them to you as soon as you deem it safe.”

Louisa nodded and made for the carriage that waited to take her to Malphas.