Candlelight Vigil

Kord and I attended the vigil, as planned. There were a lot of people there. Friends and family of the deceased, as well as people like us, who were completely unrelated, but chose to pay their respects anyway. It went on for a while, giving me plenty of time to think about this Daemon Lord. He was obviously powerful, but that didn't make our struggle hopeless. I've tangled with powerful beings before. This was just a new one that I don't understand yet. But I'm a quick learner. And all I could think about while staring at the pictures of the murder individuals was that I HAD to stop this one.

I began tapping into the thoughts of everyone there, just to see if there were any clues in their thoughts. I found nothing, but I kept scanning, until I came across something odd.

Hear something? Kord thought, noticing my unease.

It's not what I hear, I though back. It's what I don't hear.

There was a man outside of the crowd, dressed in a dark longcoat. He was too far away to make out is features, but he was in range of my telepathy. Despite this, I couldn't read his thoughts. His mind was blocked off to me.

That guy, I thought, gesturing to him. Follow him.

Kord and I began tailing the stranger, who led us away from the vigil and into town, eventually turning down a dark alleyway. And the closer we got to him, the more I could feel his poer. And he had a lot of it. Whoever this guy was, he was strong. As we came to the opening, the man spoke up.

“You know,” he said, his voice seeming to come from all directions at once. “Having such a violent Daemon running around the streets? Really bad for business.”

He turned to face us, but remained concealed mostly in shadow. At this distance, I could make out that his coat was a dark violet, rather than black, like I had initially assumed.

“Who are you?” I asked.

“Just a man with a common enemy,” he said.

“You have beef with the Daemon too?” Kord asked.

“Oh, do I,” the man said.

“Are you connected to any of the victims?” I asked him.

“Not this batch, no,” he said.

“This batch!?” Kord exclaimed. “Are you saying there's more!?”

“Amaryllis,” the man said. “You heard of them?”

“Yes,” I said. “A recent company devoted to the research and development of prosthetic limbs.”

“Just last night they were celebrating the anniversary of their second year in business,” the man said. “When they received an unwanted guest.”

“Alagarus,” I said.

“That's right,”
the man said.

“And what's your affiliation with the company?” I asked.

The man chuckled

“I own it,” he said simply.

“I see,” I said. “So you're the Backer.”

“Correct,” the man confirmed. “Now, on to business. You are both after Alagarus, and I would like to see him destroyed. So I came to make an offer.”

“Of what?” I asked.

The man conjured a briefcase out of seemingly no where and tossed it to me.

“Just a token,” he said. “Don't be humble, just take it.”

I caught the briefcase before it could hit me, and examined it.

“What's it for?” I asked.

“Whatever you want,” the Backer said, fading away. “As long as Alagarus is sent back to Hell where his kind belong, I don't give a damn!”

And then he was gone.

“The Backer, huh?” Kord asked. “So he, like, backs people?”

“Pretty much,” I said. “He funds various people as part of some grand scheme he's planning.”

“And he's backing us?” Kord asked.

I opened up the briefcase and was met with the sent of freshly printed cash.

“Looks like it,” I said.

Kord looked over my shoulder at the shitload of money inside the briefcase and whistled.

“Is this all stolen?” he asked.

“From various banks, yes,” I said.,

“Is it safe to spend?”

“You're talking to an evil mastermind,” I said. “In my hands, anything is safe to use.”

We started heading back. We were about  halfway to my bike when Kord spoke up in my head.
So, are we just gonna ignore the giant elephant sitting in the middle of the room? He asked.
I plan to, I responded.
That guy sounded just like-, He said.
"Shut up," I told him. "It's not him."
"How do you know?" Kord asked.
"Because I've been around him enough," I said. "Aside from a trace amount that all runners gain from Fear exposure, he has no Eldritch energy in his body. Not as much as the Backer has."
"So how do you explain it, then?" he asked.
"A coincidence or a trick," I said. "Daniel had the same thought when he heard the Backer's voice."
"And what if that's not the case?" Kord asked. "What if they are the same person, somehow?"
"This conversation is over," I said, and continued walking.