Chaos Divine: Eris

Eris sauntered her way through the caeles club she had come to frequent. It was the only one she had come across that didn’t have hunters or a surplus of human ilk meandering about. Tsukuyomi walked the upper level, watching those below dance to the music he shut out. It wasn’t his preferred style and though this was his club he knew this noise was what drew people in. Eris made her way to him, steps so light she floated up the stairs. “Hello, Lune.” She rested her arm on his shoulder. 
 

He frowned at the nickname, “What do you want, Eris?” He watched her gather her majik in her hand like dust before she sprinkled it over a group dancing below them. He raised a brow at her in indignation. “What did you do?”
 

“Oh come, moon, let me have some fun.” Her ability to switch through her nicknames for him only fueled his irritation.
 

“Eris-”
 

“Watch!” She leaned over the rail, eyes wide with glee. She examined the group as a friend returned with too many drinks in hand. She delighted in the show of one attempting to help, causing the drinks to go everywhere. 
 

"Your fun results in my staff having a harder shift." He glared, watching a worker appear with a mop. 
"Please, my fun results in your staff lining their pockets with lost trinkets and cash. I've not heard one of them complain." 
 

"Most are terrified of you hexing them instead." 
 

"I do not hex." She narrowed her face, flexing her fingers in agitation. "I jinx."
 

"I don't see much of a difference and neither do dictionaries." He smirked and put up a screen of his lunar majik, ready to send her dust straight to the floor. 
 

"I'll get you one day, Lune. You'll change your mind.” She huffed, flinging the remainder of her majik over the ledge onto anyone unlucky enough to be passing by.
 

“I’m going to start charging you for the use of the back room.” He side-eyed her as she tugged her leather jacket down around her.
 

“Oh sweet, you already get paid for it.” She smacked her lips in a kiss at him before she made her way down the hall. He glared at her retreating form and she exaggerated the swaying of her hips. She loved teasing him the most. She preferred the dark hallways, the shadows settling in around her and making her feel alive. Her dusk colored cosmos hair, the only inheritance she loved, flowed with her excitement. She stalked her way to the head of the table, the rest of the chairs waiting to be filled with a variety of caelestes that answered to her. 
 

“Heiress.” They bowed in greeting until she took her seat. She savored the image, every time the thrill of it had her toes curling in anticipation. 
 

“Ok boys, what do you have for me? Has anyone been able to find Fene?” She stared her men down as they took their seats, ready to enact the next part of her plans. Fene, a fae with the majik ability to make others sick, had stolen a shipment of bifrost from her organization. From her. She realized she dwelled on it too long as a crimson hue emanated from her, the only downside of her hair. 
 

“No one has seen him since footage was cut during his operation.” 
 

“You managed to let one person take what is mine. Do not think this will end well for any of you. Not finding him will only make it worse.” She gave a smile that promised death if any were foolish enough to not believe her. She was beyond annoyed five days had passed since the incident. 
 

“Heiress, Bellona is tailing him. We haven’t had contact with her. As you well know, she hates checking in when she’s on the hunt.” Soren hated how their second-in-command was so blood-thirsty she refused to listen. He couldn’t argue with her results though. Eris stared him down, a simple gaze that had him bowing his head to her. She smirked, her men were not weak-willed, they merely knew their place.
“Which is it? He hasn’t been seen? Or she’s tailing him? Correct me if I’m wrong, but to tail someone means you’ve seen them.” She watched the room freeze with amusement. “Then you should be the one to contact her. After a century of working together, one would think you’d know how to work around her…quirks.” She tilted her head to the side as he met her eyes, taking in the insult. 
 

“It shall be done.” He rose from his seat and stalked from the room. The others kept their gazes on the table, waiting for her next instruction. 
 

“The rest of you, if you have nothing to report by our next meeting, don’t bother coming in. I may not be able to keep your pretty faces in tact.” She huffed at them, shivering at the wave of fear that rippled through the room. They stood, bowed to her, and escaped before her ire crept upon them. 
“I don’t see how threatening them like that keeps them loyal to you.” Tsukuyomi leaned in the doorway of the room behind her that led towards his private quarters.
 

“A healthy dose of fear never hurt anyone. They chose to work with me, knowing exactly how I am. I’ve never hid my true colors. Unlike some we know.” She peeled her jacket off and plopped back in her chair, facing him with a devilish grin.
 

“Pray you aren’t speaking of me.” He watched warily, unable to fully trust her. 
 

“Why would I ever mean you, Lune? With your many phases.” She looked him up and down, “Many faces.” Her smile only spread as he glared.
 

“The stars might shine for you, Eris, but that’s all they’ll ever do.” He shook his head and retreated. Something in her had altered, he knew she hadn’t gathered her majik but something said he needed to leave her be. 
 

She stared at the closed door a while longer before making her way downstairs into a throng of people dancing. She let the music in and got lost in the beat, spreading dust around her with every twirl. Maybe this was something she had to do instead of sitting back. Once her adrenaline set fully into her bones she made her way outside breathing in the clear night. She stared up at the stars that Tsukuyomi dismissed with the casualness of one who was ignorant. “Where are they?” She called out to one of her familiars. Circinus, the compass, twinkled in response. A shooting star crossed the sky and landed in her awaiting hand. The message etched in stone told her to follow the Lupus constellation, that it would lead her first to Bellona before taking both of them to Fene. The star-made wolf materialized before her and shook its nightfur out, stardust covering the ground beneath it. The ethereal howl it released received a smile from her as they bolted through the pre-dawn morning. Faint pink streaks filled the sky by the time she located Bellona, irritation filling her with every step closer to her second. “At this point, that had better be your blood.” Her voice had the other woman’s head snapping in her direction.
 

“Eris, what are you doing here?” Bellona’s curly brown hair draped over her shoulders, the tips soaked in blood.
 

“You’ve made me wait too long.” Violet sparks emanated from her upturned hands. 
 

“You have me chasing a weasel.” Bellona’s laugh grated against Eris’s patience. She lifted a strand of hair, as if showing the blood was a triumph. “I found a helper who gave me the location of our product. They told me where I could find our dear friend who made such a terrible decision.” Her honeyed words promised more violence. 
 

“Is this helper still breathing?”
 

“Why should I care?” 
 

“Was there more we could learn or did you just go with the easy information?” Eris shook her head, her second never found out everything they would need. Things that could save them trouble. The Lupus constellation howled and started making its way further into the forgein city. Eris followed without hesitation, Bellona narrowing her gaze at the wolf made of the night sky.
 

“This isn’t the direction we should be going.”
 

“Then be glad I grew tired of waiting.” Her clipped answer had Bellona falling in step behind her. Lupus led them to a small brick building that was once a hardware store. A full ray of sunlight came through a cloud and Lupus burst into stardust, its time reigning at an end for the night. Eris noted the mice that lingered within sight of any entry point. “Come out, little piper.”
 

“I don’t know how you made it here nor do I actually care.” His voice came through speakers on the corners of the building. Bellona had her sword drawn and stalked towards the door.
 

“Stand down.” Eris ordered without looking at her. Bellona halted with rage slowly coursing through her. 
 

“Smartest thing you’ve done all week, soldier. Lucky you that your boss saved you from such carefully planned traps. Unlucky me though, I suppose.” 
 

“Why are you stalling, Fene? Why not come out and see me.”
 

“No thanks, my luck is bad enough without you throwing jinxes at me. Clearly, I took what should have been an easy job and look how it has turned out for me. A bloodthirsty sociopath searching for me with unrealistic sleeping patterns. A fae I never wanted to cross paths with holding the leash to said sociopath. And, to top it all off, a client that is just as crazy as the two of you.”
 

“Someone hired you to steal from me?” Eris began to settle into a deadly calm.
 

“Does it matter? He did the deed. Let’s get our belongings and his head.” Bellona watched her, waiting for the green light.
 

“Of course it matters, you dolt.” Fene all but growled through the speakers. He had to be close to the windows in order to hear them speak. Or perhaps he was listening through his mice. Eris kept looking around for the answers.
 

“I would watch your mouth, weakling.” Bellona twirled the sword as she glared at the building.
“It means I’m not your real problem. Someone else will continue to pull strings until they get what they want out of you. That even if I’m out of the way, someone else will easily replace me.” 
Eris shook her head at Bellona’s silent plea to proceed. She motioned for her to step back, outrage contorting her face as she obeyed. Eris pulled her majik up from the depths of her soul and unleashed a wave of dust that matched the colors of her hair. Bellona raised a brow in question. “I suggest you not touch the red dust, if you can even see it.” Eris laughed as the mice vanished, and shrieking was heard in the alleyways. “Go.” The simple command barely left her lips before Bellona darted down one side of the building. It didn’t take her long to find a victim and even less time to find another. 
 

“Your majik is only supposed to be jinxes and hexes, nothing more. What have you done?”
 

“I bore fear and dread, do not take me so lightly when you don’t understand the first thing about my majik.” She sauntered to the door and opened it with little resistance. Fene sat upon the desolate counter, red splotches spreading through his skin like crimson threads. She smirked at him. “Tell me, who hired you?”
 

Fene shook his head fast, “I fear them more than you.” 
 

“Wrong answer.” Bellona was behind him, sword at his throat and dagger plunged into his thigh. His scream echoed louder than necessary in the small empty room. 
 

“Get her off me and I’ll help you!” His begging elicited a smile from both women and a twist of the dagger. Bellona pressed the blade further in and was rewarded, “Loki!”
 

Eris’s smile faded as her gaze hardened. “Lie to me again and she can have her way with you. You’ll live longer than you want to.” 
 

“It’s not a lie, I promise.” A golden orb flowed from his lips, split in two, and settled into the women.
 

“Why should we take you at your word?” Bellona leaned over him to stare into his eyes, pressing her energy into him. 
 

“Just ‘cause I steal doesn’t mean I lie. Also who in their right mind would use promise majik and lie?” He hissed through his teeth, trying not to scream out again. “He said something about a test, I swear it.” Again the words lit the air between them.
 

“Why do you fold so easily?” Eris could think of a variety of ways he could find a loophole from his binding words.
 

“He paid for a job, not for loyalty.” His answer had Bellona laughing and removing her sword from his neck. 
 

“Smart answer, for a coward.” She looked to Eris who nodded and she yanked her dagger from his thigh.

She delighted in the obsidian blade, how it kept the advanced healing ability of fae at bay. His muscle was stitching itself back together within minutes. “Move and I’ll do it again.” She brought the blade close to her face, the scent caused her nose to twitch, and she proceeded to wipe the blade off on her pants leg. 
 

“Where is my shipment?” Eris ignored the pit of uncertainty that gnawed at her stomach. Loki was who she bought bifrost from in the first place. A drug that gave visions of the future with an ethereal high. Humans never saw it for what it was and most caelestes kept searching for the high that only came with the first dose. She paid a higher price in order to get it pure so she could make her own blends. She was trying to find a way to induce the high multiple times and one to show the past. She’d had mild luck in both ventures but not enough to begin selling them. She was close to a breakthrough when Fene stole the recent shipment from her. Her fangs ached from her anger. 
 

“In the next building over.” He nodded towards the back of the building.
 

“And where is Loki? If this is some test of his, he should be nearby, no?” 
 

“Likely with the shipment. He appears when he wants.” 
 

“My majik is coursing through your blood as we speak, taking hold of you. Bring my product back to me, in full, and I’ll spare you.” 
 

“We won’t bring it back with us?” Bellona’s disappointment flitted across her face. 
 

“After all that you’re just going to leave?” Fene leaned up and Bellona slammed her dagger back in his

thigh. “The hell is wrong with you?” Pain radiated from him and both drank it in.
 

“I promised you and what am I without my word?” Her smirk set fire to his eyes.
 

“I-”
 

“Think your next words carefully. Deny me and whatever Loki offers as punishment will look like child’s play. What she relishes in will be soft in comparison. By the time I’m done with you,” Eris smirked as she tugged on her majik that still etched its mark across his skin. The scream got stuck in his throat and he fell off the table. The landing only pushed the dagger in further. “You won’t even remember how to beg.” 
 

“You’re worse than he said you’d be.”
 

“Flattery will get you nowhere. Bellona, collect your toy and let’s go.” Eris turned her back on the store and never looked back.
 

“There were mice in the back room ready to take down the first thing that stepped into it. I sense a wolf in between the buildings. Is this why you wanted to retreat?”
 

“Though Loki has an absurd amount of luck on his side, he is also a shapeshifter. There’s no telling if one of those mice was him or not. I don’t even know if that was truly Fene.”
 

“It was. I could smell the sickness in the blood.”
 

“We will go home and figure out our next move. Watch him if you wish. Do not make me claim your corpse.”
 

Bellona gave her a devil’s grin and bowed her head, “Heiress.”