Thread: The Butcher's Bill (Prince x LeatrixSage)

Ethan retreated to his bedroom down the corridor with his face flushed and body trembling slightly. His loss of control with Elisa was embarrassing. Unprofessional. Immature. Weak. Foolish. He cursed his stupidity under his breath as he entered his private quarters. The servants had lit the room up already and arranged his clothing. With a sigh he undressed and slipped into his dinner attire, a black jacket with tails, black trousers, a grey vest and a black bow-tie. He still kept his father's customs and a dinner at the Colton House was always formal, even if he didn't have a guest like he had tonight. His fingers fumbled on his bow-tie as he thought of that guest, cheeks flushing again at what he had just done. She had every right to be upset at him. But his hands were still as tied as the shackles he had placed on her. He couldn't let her go without further questioning and there was the issue of her safety with the butcher taking an interest in Claudia's belongings. He had to ignore what he had done and act his normal, efficient and professional self. He turned to the liquor cabinet and poured himself a glass of whiskey, sipping it in large gulps as he prowled his room restlessly. He slipped a smaller pistol into a shoulder holster as he examined himself in the mirror. He had aged, he realized. Lines on his face that were not there before his stint in the army. A sagging tiredness under his eyes that came from working long hours and late at night. A tightness to his skin, like he was stretched. He knew his obsession with his job, and finding his father's killer, was unhealthy. He pushed himself hard at times. Was there more to life he was missing? Another swig of whiskey and he felt his body warm and some of his tension dissipate with a gentle buzz. The Butcher's murders had wound him up he realized and he reviewed again why they had struck a chord. Few remembered but years ago, when he had been studying at Blackfriars College and keen to follow his father's footsteps into the Royal Society of Magicians, there had been a similar series of murders. Three individuals dead in the slums of Lambeth across the river. Pentagrams and other occult signs scrawled by their bodies. His father had hushed it up with the constables. Ethan's position as Magical Crimes Investigator had not existed and the Magician's Society had been ill equipped to handle the investigation, but he knew his father had been involved personally. Then his father's murder had happened and the killings had been forgotten. And probably only Ethan remembered the murders had ended when his father had died. And he only because the nature of the murders had been his last conversation with his father. While some other magical beings used pentagrams, they were most common to be used by human magicians. For summoning and binding creatures or magic, and particularly used to handle demons. They pointed to a human behind the killings, and more worrisome, a human magician. The bell rang for dinner finally and Ethan hurried down the stairs, anxious to avoid Elisa until the last minute possible. He entered the dining room finishing his glass of whiskey and found the table set immaculately for two. Following his instructions, Elisa was at the opposite end of the long table. A distance he thought safe enough given his recent indiscretion. A maid came and poured him a glass of fine Burgundy red as he waited, fingers tapping idly on the table.