I sat down with Agent Alû.
The younger of the two guys that interrogated us two months ago. He's
one of the few agents who talk to me. Mostly because they all speak
french and I don't. Hey Gabriella, that reminds me, one of these days
you're gonna have to teach me french.
I don't mean
french kissing this time, I promise. Pretty sure I've mastered those
lessons.
So I asked agent
Alû about his code name. Where it came from, why he got that one,
etc.
It was lunch time
so he was eating a cheese sandwich. “Ah, an Alû is a Mesopotamian
demon. All of our code names are based on some mythology or folklore.
Most of the time our code names are chosen based on the Fear we first
came into contact with.”
I grabbed an apple
out of the fruit bowl. “So then what was your first Fear?”
“Mine? The
Nightlanders. Back when I was in high school me and some friends
sneaked into an abandoned factory. There were rumors the place was
haunted. Turned out they weren't wrong. Except it wasn't ghosts. Two
of my friends died when they fell through the floor. The basement was
full of those shadow creatures.. They were both ripped apart. Me and
the other two were saved by ENCAGE.”
I took a bite out
of the apple. “Yikes, that's terrible. The Nightlanders come after
you?”
He shook his head.
“Haven't seen them since. It's been ten years. If they had I'd be a
runner not an ENCAGE agent now. Can't be both, runners are too great
a risk.”
I then decided to
ask about his partner. “So what about Gévaudan? What's his story?
I assume he's named after that french werewolf?”
He nodded and
looked over to the old guy sitting a few tables away. “Obviously he
didn't see a werewolf. But I'm sure you can guess what Fear it might
have been.”
“Black dog?” I
guessed.
“Yeah, killed
his entire family thirty or so years ago. He was the only survivor.
He told me he made an oath to himself to never let that happen to
anyone ever again.”
No wonder he's
always so grumpy. There's no way he could ever keep that oath. I
didn't say that out loud though. Would be too insensitive. Instead I
switched subjects. “What about your boss?”
“Agent Lilith?”
He looked surprised.
“Yeah, you know
her story?”
“Not the full
story no.” He scratched his head. “I did hear bits and pieces
though.”
“Think it'd be
okay to share?”
“Probably.
I believe her grandfather was a high ranking Timberwolf. He died when
she was very young, that's when she found out. She was horrified.
Decided she would do everything she could to stop men like her
grandfather.”
“And her name?”
“Not sure but
probably Biblical.”
“Because
Archangel.”
He nodded.
I asked about a
few other agents I had come into contact with. They don't matter So I
won't bother you with them.
Wait, hold on.
Edit: There's a
mob of villagers shouting at the gates. Seems like they've grown
tired of being stuck in a cage. I should probably go check it out.
