Jonesy’s eyes widened as his drunken brain caught up with what was happening around him and he reached for the gun in his shoulder holster. Lissany and Nishalle were faster, each grabbing one of his arms and pinning him onto the patio chair. He looked up at me in fear and confusion as he started to ask, “How…”

“I am a Demigoddess, Agent Jones. If I really want to get to someone or something, nothing on this planet can stop me,” replied, barely containing my anger. “You have kidnapped, tortured, and murdered my people. You have done the same to people who have been changed through no fault of their own, people already confused and frightened by what was happening to them. Many of those who we found in the ‘care’ of your organization were barely more than children. Tell me, did you kill your wife and son yourself, or did you have someone else do it for you?”

“I’m betting on someone else,” I barely heard Nishalle mutter in disgust.

“It was a mercy,” the agent spat. “They were dead to me the moment that they became those monsters. At least by studying them we could learn how to fight this invasion.”

“Monsters?! Fauns are among the gentlest and most peaceful of magical creatures and you murdered them and desecrated their corpses with your experiments! Your own wife and child!” I snarled, aching to make him pay for his crimes.

“Let’s go and ask those two spirits haunting your home how they feel about your mercy,” Rei added in a carefully controlled tone. “I can feel them from here. The anger, pain, and betrayal that they feel are… Tae, I need to go ease their spirits and help them to pass on. Will you be okay out here, Babe?”

“He can’t hurt any of us, we’ll be fine,” I replied curtly, not taking my eyes off Agent Jones.

“That’s not what I meant, Babe. You’re understandably pissed about this, but please, don’t go all vengeful Fae and do something that you’ll regret later.” With that, my lover softly kissed my cheek and made his way toward the back door of the house.

Rei was right, I was so furious that I could barely think straight and I wanted so damn badly to make Jones suffer for what he had done, but I couldn’t act rashly. As much as I wanted to punish him for his crimes, that punishment needed to be appropriate for what he had done. I needed to think about that punishment not just shoot from the hip in my anger, I was better than that. I wanted to be better than that.

First, I needed to find out who was pulling his strings and put an end to this madness. “You will pay for your crimes, Thomas Jones, but first you are going to answer some questions for me. And you will do so honestly.”

“Fuck you! You claim to be some sort of god… but I’m not falling for that shit like those people that you duped on that plane. This is an invasion, an assault on our way of life, and I’m pretty sure that you’re the one in charge of it all. You’re not getting anything out of me,” he replied, leveling me with a cold glare.

I spoke as calmly and coolly as I could, holding back the urge to do something that I would only regret later. “There is no ‘invasion’, Mr. Jones. The Gods and magick have returned to this world and most of the Gods want to wipe humanity out wholesale, we’re working to stop that. Those people that you caged, beat, killed, and desecrated are all victims in this. They just happened to have non-human bloodlines and they were scared and didn’t know what was happening to them, and you and your lackeys increased their trauma and murdered some of them in cold blood. Make no mistake, Mr. Jones, you will tell me the truth.”

“You can torture me all you like; I’m not giving you anything,” he said, his glare still focused on me.

I could have had him tortured. He probably even deserved it after what he had done to those poor people. After what she had seen in his house of horrors Nishalle seemed willing enough to get the answers out of him, I could see it written all over her face. I had no doubts that she would get those answers eventually, but that was a dark path that I didn’t want either of us to travel. What I had in mind was more effective and a lot faster.

“Yes, we’re all very impressed with your display of bravado, Mr. Jones but you haven’t been paying attention. Why use torture when I can use magick? Naethrin fluivhas aen viyr gahäil!” I quickly drew the sigils as I spoke the words and then reached out to touch Agent Jones’s forehead. I could feel the magick of the spell settling upon him, binding him, and I smiled. The smile was more for his sake than mine since internally I was still trying to calm down and not give in to the urge to use some other more permanent spell on him. “Be the better person Taelya,” I told myself, “that isn’t who you want to be.”

It seemed that Jonesy had felt the magick of my spell take hold as well. His eyes widened in sudden fear before he narrowed them to glare at me once more. “What did you do to me?”

“I have bound you, Agent Jones. I’ve bound you to me, and the truth. Until I release you, you will answer all questions that I ask you honestly to the best of your knowledge. Why do you look so worried? Now we can skip all of that torture that you were so worried about and get right down to business,” I told him, and this time the smile on my face was real.

I questioned Jonesy for over an hour. I didn’t want to know just who was passing down their orders and what those orders were, but also about the organization’s connections, goals, and structure. Another matter of interest to me was whether we had hit all of their black sites, or if we still had more people to free.

It seemed that their orders were coming straight from the Minister of Defense though there were no official documents that would support this. Everything was being done through proxies and secret phone calls so that the Minister had plausible deniability. This made things problematic, we couldn’t just charge into the Minister of Defense’s office and threaten him in broad daylight without the possibility of harming future negotiations and starting an international incident once we were officially recognized as a country on the world stage.

Sure, we could go in there all glamoured up to hide our identities, but I wanted to try and limit any negative press concerning magick or non-humans until we could officially inform the world about what was going on. I wanted to build up a good reputation for us to stand on when we dropped that little bomb. And, while I was just fine with releasing information that the government was hiding, I didn’t want to start being secretive and burying information that I didn’t want seeing the light of day myself. The best way not to have your dirty laundry aired by somebody is not to have any in the first place.

So, in the end, my questioning didn’t give me much that we could act directly on at the moment, at least not any more than we had before. We couldn’t prove the connection between the Department of Changed Affairs and the Minister of Defense but we had plenty of information linking them to the CSIS, who were coordinating with several three-letter agencies in the United States on the manhunt for people connected with Pegasus Entertainment. Since we released all of the information we had about that to the media already, it probably wouldn’t be long before they started sniffing around at the doors of certain Cabinet members.

While most of my questions only confirmed what we already knew or suspected, we did at least find out that we had hit all of the black sites they currently had running. We also know knew for certain that their theory was that what was going on in the world was some sort of twisted alien body-snatchers type invasion. Their goals were to find ways to fight and kill us and to attempt to get technology such as the F.I.Ts that they thought would help with that goal.

We seemed to have Japan on our side now, or at least well on the way, but we needed to hurry and get some good press in other parts of the world so that people would take me seriously when I dropped the bomb about the Gods and magick situation. My people were under orders to help out with any monster-related incidents they saw but it couldn’t hurt to keep an eye on breaking news and the internet to deal with problems as they surfaced too. I was considering that as I finished questioning Agent Jones, who was none too happy with me, and even less happy giving me the information that I had asked for.

Rei had finished putting the two distraught spirits in the house to rest and had gotten enough information out of them to be able to tell us that not only had Jonesy killed them himself, but he also had a secondary cell phone that he would occasionally get calls from. He hadn’t mentioned that, but then I hadn’t asked him directly about it either. Questioning Jonesy about it revealed was that this was how the Minister of Defense was contacting him to receive updates and give any updated orders.

Soon, that phone was resting in one of Rei’s pouches and Pete asked, “What do we do with him? We can’t really leave him running loose.”

“Yeah, especially with all that he has to answer for, “Nishalle added, casting a glare of undisguised loathing at the agent.

“Oh, we’re going to give him exactly what he wants. We’re going to take him to see a F.I.T, from the inside,” I said with a satisfied smile. I had come up with a fitting punishment for Agent Jones, and delivering it through one of the F.I.Ts that he so desired was so delightfully ironic that my Fae sense of vengeance and my more humane sense of justice were both equally satisfied with the idea.

Everyone was staring at me with wide eyes and dropped jaws, especially Jonesy. Pete and Lissany weren’t about to question my orders and Nishalle’s face quickly morphed into a very satisfied grin at whatever she thought I had in mind but Rei stopped gaping to give me a serious look. “Tae, I thought that you weren’t going to go there again. You said that transforming a person against their will is a violation. That’s why you want everyone to know exactly what they’re in for before getting into a F.I.T.”

I felt bad that he doubted me, but I had to admit that I had been really angry when we had arrived at Jonesy’s backyard. Hell, I still was. So I tried not to take it to heart since he was trying to be my conscience. “Don’t worry, my love, the F.I.T that he will be going into will be filled with water. It won’t even have a simulation running or be connected to any of the servers. Just sensory deprivation and a very special Aen’kuorüis that I’m going to have made just for him. I stand by what I said, transformation without information is a violation. I also don’t want people thinking that becoming Fae, Beastkin, or any of the other non-Human races should be seen as a punishment. It makes us seem lesser than we are and supports the belief of those Humans who think that they’re superior and that we’re no better than monsters.”

“What exactly are you planning then, Sis?” Nishalle asked, now looking slightly confused. She probably thought that I was going to put him in a particularly nasty simulation or something but my comment about sensory deprivation had likely thrown her off.

“Let’s make this official, we need to follow the traditions of our people after all,” I said before turning my very satisfied smile on Jonesy. “Agent Thomas Edward Jones, you are guilty of crimes against my people. Once we get to Varüus’kiel you will be subject to the Wild Hunt. You will be given an opportunity to escape but should you not find a way off our island before you fall or we catch you then you will face the punishment that I have decreed for your crimes. Do you understand this?”

“Fuck you, you crazy bitch!”

“I’ll take that as a yes,” I replied coldly, not allowing him to anger me further. “When you fail to escape, you will face my judgment and be punished for the crimes that you have committed against my people.”

Jonesy was now struggling against Nishalle and Lissany with new vigor, but there was no way that he was going to be able to break free from my Guardian and Nishalle wasn’t about to let him go either. She wasn’t above flashing him a grin though, her white teeth and fangs standing out against her dark skin as she taunted. “I wouldn’t use up all your energy now, you’re going to need it to run.”

Once I had cast the portal back to Varüus’kiel and we had arrived I had Pete remove Jonesy’s gun and search him for any other weapons. Then, rather than trying to get everyone gathered the hard way I wind whispered Nakir, the Huntsmaster for the Autumn Court, to ask him to prepare his men and the Cú sídhe for the impending Wild Hunt. I also contacted Sahnae’s older sister Laneera, asking the Princess of the Spring Court to create an Aen’kuorüis and giving her instructions on what I wanted to be done. I would have asked my Mahair to handle it but she was off searching for mine and Nishalle’s half-sister.

Then I used Nature’s Call to connect to the very air of Varüus’kiel to send make an announcement. “People of Varüus’kiel! Many of you are refugees, after facing persecution in the nations that you once called home for no longer being human. I know that we have rescued a great many of you from black sites in Canada. We are working on finding these types of sites in other countries as well and freeing those held there, but you are the ones that may now find justice for the way that you have been treated, for those who died under the thumb of the ‘Department of Changed Affairs’. Though we have no way of making the man pulling the strings of this organization face justice yet, we have captured Thomas Edward Jones, the man responsible for those sites and your suffering.”

I paused a moment to let that sink in before continuing. “All those who wish to join in the Wild Hunt please meet at the edge of the eastern forest. After the Wild Hunt, he will suffer as those he captured have. I ask that, rather than joining in the hunt, all of you who we rescued from those black sites speak with Princess Laneera of the Spring Court. She will be waiting where the Moon Palace is growing by the lakeside. I assure you all that you will bear witness as he pays the price for his crimes once the Wild Hunt returns.”

With my proclamation finished, I severed my connection to nature and took a deep breath as we frog-marched Agent Jones to the edge of the forest. “Sorry everyone, we should be in bed sleeping right now, not dealing with this because I got pissed off.”

“I think that we can all agree that he deserves whatever it is that you’re going to do to him, Sis,” Nishalle assured me. “You’ve got me wondering just what that is though, you’ve been deliberately vague and you have that self-satisfied smirk on your face that Mahair gets when she’s planning something especially diabolical.”

“I think that I’ve figured out what she has planned, or at least a general idea,” Rei offered with a smile. “I’m not going to ruin the surprise though.”

“Have you ever been in sensory deprivation, Tom? I’m sure you’ll love it, though you might end up going crazy if we leave you in there too long. It’s not unusual,” Pete taunted as he took my sister’s place in helping Lissany march Agent Jones along through groups of watching people and toward the edge of the forest. As we walked he hummed a familiar song, probably just to piss Jonesy off.

We were nearly there when we found Hadrick and Shaoli waiting for us, along with Xixie and some of the Sül’shael. The Dwarf was holding a pair of Nythrin swords that matched my old ones, except for the beautifully intricate designs carved into the flats of the blades. For never having made weapons before, Xixie and the others had done an amazing job under Hadrick’s coaching. I was glad that he was holding them because Xixie and the other Sül’shael were so visibly excited to see my awed reaction that they might have hurt themselves.

“As you can see, Yer Majesty, we finished yer new swords,” Hadrick said with a beard-splitting grin as he offered them to me.

“They’re even more beautiful than the originals,” I said as I carefully took them and gave them a closer examination before quickly enchanting them to be as supernaturally sharp as their predecessors. Once I was done that, and admiring them, I reached behind my back to place them in the loops on my belt behind my back. I had placed an enchantment on those simple leather loops to protect myself from being cut by the bare blade of my previous swords; anything pushed through the openings of the loops would be covered in a form of force field to protect both the blades and me.

“You and the girls did a wonderful job but didn’t have to give them to me now, this could have waited,” I told the small group. “But since you have Shaoli with you as well, I assume there are other matters that you wish to discuss?”

“Yes, Your Majesty, don’t worry about being late for the Wild Hunt. People are still gathering and getting organized, and they won’t start without you,” Shaoli teased playfully. I liked her, she was such a friendly and down-to-earth Nyiir'dhraí. “I just wanted to ask if you and Lissany would come to see me before you leave Varüus’kiel again. Hadrick and Yola wanted me to get you both measured for new armor. We’ll get Harley’s measurements as soon as she’s out of her F.I.T.”

“We’re making you a new shield, sword, and war hammer too, Lissany. All of it should be much lighter and much more durable than what yer usin’ now. I think you’ll like what these fiery lasses have planned fer yer armor too,” the Dwarf told my Guardian, still grinning.

“Sweet!” the Guardian in question replied, grinning right back at him. “I was wondering about something though. The inside of my armor and shield are lined with Kevlar to give extra resistance to heat and bullets. It’s a synthetic though and Fae who become Guardians wouldn’t be able to use it without an allergic reaction.”

“We’ll be using the Dragonhide that Her Majesty provided fer the inner lining on all Guardians’ armor and shields. It’ll give even better heat and bullet resistance but be lighter and less bulky,” Hadrick explained, causing Lissany’s grin to become even bigger. “We should have enough to outfit Her Majesty, you, and all the guardians being trained right now, and maybe a bit left over if we’re careful.”

“We’ll be sure to come to see you before we leave,” I promised Hadrick and Shaoli.

The pair bowed and thanked me but before they could get on their way I was glomped by Xixie and the other Sül’shael with her. I was actually surprised that they had managed to wait until the conversation was over. Once they had given me enough space to breathe again Xixie asked, “What is the Wild Hunt Inu’Mahair? Do you need help gathering food?”

I shook my head and thought for a moment. The Sül’shael were so peaceful, innocent, and carefree and I didn’t want them to lose those qualities. It was bad enough that Xixie had been there when Nishalle had ended the lives of the members of H3lls-Pwn.

Finally, I gestured to where Lissany and Pete were holding Jonesy not far away. “That is a man who did very bad things to many of the people who have come here. During the Wild Hunt, we will chase him through the forest like a wild animal and make him feel the fear that he made others feel. When he can’t run anymore we will bring him back here and I will announce a punishment for what he did. The Wild Hunt can be harsh though since there are a lot of bad feelings involved so, even though we won’t kill him or let him die by other means, he will suffer during the Hunt.”

The girls looked uncertain but nodded in understanding. “Do you need us to come with you Inu’Mahair?” They’re such good people, not wanting to see someone hurt but still determined to be there if I needed them to be.

“I don’t expect you girls to join in the hunt, in fact, I would rather you didn’t,” I told them honestly. “You’re all good girls. Such wonderful and pretty girls should be making wonderful and pretty things and not making someone suffer. Please, Xixie, you and the girls stay with Hadrick, Yola, and Shaoli. I look forward to seeing the beautiful things that you make.” The girls looked relieved and once they had nodded in acceptance I gave them each one last hug and a kiss on the forehead before we parted company.

The moon was still gibbous and high in the starry sky, providing plenty of light. It was a good time for the Wild Hunt. People of all the races on the island were waiting for the hunt to get underway at the edge of the eastern forest. A pair of strong Nyiir'dhraí held Jonesy firmly in place by the tree line and the agent was not looking very comfortable at all with the large group of non-Humans gathered around us. He was surrounded, his only path of possible escape the one that I had chosen for him, through the forest.

He had been stripped down to his tighty-whities since he would need his clothes again eventually and I figured that it would be better if they were undamaged and unbloodied when that time came. He had already ruined the underwear. I had had Tsukiko introduce him to her Familiar Yuki so that he knew what denizens awaited him in that forest and I could practically smell the fear on him, not to mention the urine when he came face-to-face with the massive Dire Wolf.

The taunts and jeers had begun and everyone seemed eager for the first cut to be made so the hunt could begin and they could get a piece of him. As eager as they were though, nobody would touch him until the Wild Hunt had officially begun. I took my time mounting Ghost, making sure to first give her a bit of affection in the form of loving pats and caresses as she nuzzled me lovingly. “I’ve missed you too, girl. What do you say I mount up and we get started so this prick can pay for what he’s done?”

Ghost eagerly bobbed her head up and down, her crimson mane fluttering with each motion before turning to cast a baleful look toward Jonesy as I gracefully mounted her. Her golden eyes fixed on him and she stared him down conveying the wild savagery and intelligence of her kind. And yet, under my touch, she was as gentle as a lamb. If Jonesy hadn’t already wet himself earlier, he probably would have at that.

The moment that I was seated comfortably upon Ghost’s back, Nakir, the dark-haired Nyiir'dhraí with the stony expression who was the Huntsmaster of the Autumn Court, let out a shrill whistle. A moment later he and his Huntsmen were mounted upon their Cú sídhe as well. Nishalle mounted her Cú sídhe as gracefully as I had mounted Ghost a moment before but it took Pete, Lissany, Rei a little while longer since Pete wasn’t used to riding one and the shaggy, horse-sized, and savage-looking emerald-hued hounds still made both the Kitsune and feline Beastkin nervous.

“Here we go again, one of these days maybe I’ll get used to riding them and lose this fear of them chasing me instead of the asshole we’re hunting,” my fiancé grumbled behind me and to my right.

“Yeah, cats and foxes shouldn’t be riding dogs, it freaks me out,” my Guardian agreed dismally.

Once the pair were mounted and had stopped complaining, Nakir looked to me to start things off so that he could give the signal for the hunt to begin. He was as eager as everyone else it seemed. For the moment though, even though both Huntsmen and Hounds were enthusiastic to get underway, everyone remained still and waited for that signal to be given.

I took a deep breath to calm myself and began to address Jonesy at a volume and clarity that all of those assembled could hear. “Agent Thomas Edward Jones, you are here to answer for the following crimes against the people of Varüus’kiel and all of the races gathered here tonight. You have cast a black mark that will likely never fade on the reputations and livelihoods of the Canadian players of Apocalypse Dawn, employees of Pegasus Entertainment, and anyone associated with them. You have had innocent people kidnapped, tortured, and murdered and then desecrated their remains simply because they are not Human. You murdered your own wife and child and desecrated their remains for the same reason. There are likely other crimes that you are guilty of but I can only deliver justice for those that I know about or that affect my people. With that in mind, you now face the Wild Hunt.”

“Being a gracious Empress, I will allow you an opportunity to escape, should you do so and evade the hunt before you tire, or escape our island nation, then we will pursue you no longer and you will be a free man.” Then I paused and, taking a page out of my Mahair’s book, I smiled maliciously before adding, “When you fail to do so, those whom you have wronged will be granted their fair retribution, as is the custom of our people.”

Nakir looked toward me, inching his shaggy green mount closer and holding out his ornate ritual dagger. “This man has harmed many and the first wronged is not clear. Who would you ask to make the first cut, Your Majesty?”

I took the dagger from his hand and announced. “As one of the former players of Apocalypse Dawn and a friend and relative to others and people associated with Pegasus Entertainment, I will claim the first cut for myself and represent all those whom he has wronged.”

“As you wish, Your Majesty,” he replied with a solemn nod.

I leaped from Ghost’s back, landing adroitly before Jonesy and the two Nyiir’dhraí holding him in place. Then I gave him a long look, considering exactly where I wanted that first cut to be. I delivered a long shallow cut along the length of his outer thigh. It wasn’t deep, barely more than a scratch. and wouldn’t prevent him from running but it would sting like hell with every stride that he took. Then I leaned in to whisper, “Try not to worry too much about the Dire Wolves and other nasty beasts out there, we’ll be right behind you the whole way. We won’t let you out of our sight until you fall.”

“This is barbaric,” he snarled back, spitting at me though I deftly stepped aside to avoid his loogie. “You have no right to hold me or do any of this.”

“I have every right. I’m one of the wronged and you’re on my turf now, I make the rules here. What’s the matter? Do you really think that holding people against their will and torturing them is just your shtick? We’ve been doing this for as long as Humans have been around to persecute others who aren’t like themselves. I would have thought you’d be a fan of manhunts after the way you put us on that terrorist watch list and turned the whole country against us though,” I replied thoughtfully before turning around and walking back toward Ghost. I paused before mounting though and smiled at him over my shoulder, “You know what they say. Karma is a bitch, Jonesy.”

As I mounted and then handed the ritual dagger back to Nakir I could see the fear and confusion on Jonesy’s face. He had only heard two people, or what he thought were two different people, call him Jonesy before, Caleb and Karin, though both of them had been me. Combined with the other hints that I had casually dropped he was trying really hard to figure out the connection.

He didn’t have much time to think about it because the instant that Nakir had restored his dagger to its sheath the Huntsmaster sounded his horn to signal the start of the hunt. The raspy ghostly voices of the hounds resounded in the night air in the form of spine-chilling howls and then the huge shaggy canines rushed toward Agent Jones. Their riders and those on foot laughed and taunted as they all moved in shouting war cries, eager to deliver cuts of their own and teach him the meaning of true suffering.

For a moment Jonesy just stood there, as if the sheer belief that this couldn’t possibly be happening might offer him some measure of protection. Small cut after small cut, delivered by the Fae and anyone else with an interest darting in and out to slash at him convinced him otherwise. He took off running eastward into the forest as Cú sídhe nipped and barked in their ghostly voices and everyone else pursuing him shouted taunts and slipped in close, delivering quick cuts before swiftly getting back out of range before he could react.

We pursued him through the moonlit woods, mostly staying just far enough behind so that he knew he wasn’t going to lose us at first. Dire Wolves and other denizens of the woods didn’t make an appearance, wisely avoiding our large hunting party as we harried him. As we were wont, we sometimes fell behind enough to let him think that we were tiring and he might have a chance of getting away, only to fall upon his heels again or have those scouting ahead appear before him or block his path with barriers made from magic.

As was customary, I brought up the rear of the hunt where my companions and I would be safe, so I didn’t really get to see all that much aside from the scenic forest views and a hell of a lot of angry Fae, Beastkin and others chasing our prey. Poor Jonesy didn’t last very long though, so it was only a couple of hours before he finally collapsed on the forest floor. He really needed to work on his cardio.

Once the hunt was over the crowd parted so that my companions and I could make our way through to address the prisoner. Jonesy was being secured by Nakir with a metal collar with a chain that was attached to his Cú sídhe. All of the taunts and verbal barbs faded into silence as I approached, holding up my hand for silence and looking over Jonesy, who was wheezing and giving me a look of pure hatred.

Once the last of the chatter died down, leaving the woods eerily quiet, I turned to address Agent Jones. “You have failed to win your freedom, so retribution is now at hand. Once we have returned to the settlement you shall face those whom you have wronged and I will deliver justice. I think that we’ll take a nice leisurely walk back to that you can consider your failings and your fate, Agent Jones. Please gag him as well, Nakir, I doubt that anybody wants to hear what he has to say once he can breathe again.”

As I had promised, we took our time walking back to the others. It took another four hours, and it was inching close to eight in the morning Vancouver time by the time we returned, but I had wanted to give Laneera time to finish the task that I had given her. It seemed that she had since when we exited the woods she was waiting with a large crowd of those we had rescued from black sites and a single F.I.T. I rode ahead to join the Princess of the Spring Court and asked, “Is it done?”

“Yes, Your Majesty,” the green-haired Yseil’dhraí confirmed with a grim nod. “It was a lot of people to go through but all of their traumatic memories about their awakenings, capture, and treatment while in custody have been stored in an Aen’kuorüis that has been placed inside this F.I.T, just as you asked. I also filled it with saltwater as you requested. It will help his wounds heal faster but…”

“Yeah, it’s going to hurt like a bitch,” I finished for her in a conspiratorial whisper that made her grin. “He deserves at least that while his other senses are deprived. Did you let them know why we needed those memories? I hate having to make you dredge them up, but it will help to deliver justice to the man who wronged them all.”

She nodded sadly. “What some of them… most of them went through was horrific. I told them that the shared memories of their suffering at the hands of the Department of Changed Affairs would be used to ensure that the man responsible for it, shares them. It is a small comfort for them, hopefully knowing that he shares those memories and will suffer from them as well will help them to heal.”

I nodded in satisfaction, hoping that she was right. Then, as the returning hunt caught up with me and Nakir threw Jonesy to my feet, I spoke up once more so that everyone gathered could hear. “Agent Thomas Edward Jones, your punishment will be as follows: You will be placed in this F.I.T, in sensory deprivation, and be burdened with the memories of all of those who have lived through torment at the hands of your organization. Their confusion and fear at what was happening as they changed or faced a strange new world after the fall of the veil, and their capture and treatment at the hands of you and your minions. Every injury, every insult, and every trauma and humiliation that each one of them has endured will haunt your mind as they do your victims’ until the day that you die. Once all of those memories have been fully absorbed by your mind, we will release you into the care of a psychiatric hospital where you will spend the rest of your days, unable to harm yourself or anyone else.”