Lih looked up sharply, eyes narrow.
Dorian’s face, even when frowning, was stupidly attractive.
As it had been explained to Lih in the debrief, the man was a defector. It wasn’t clear, but it seemed that the detective had once been an Atharim. Later, for reasons Lih didn’t even want to consider, he had renounced his allegiance and joined the forces of the Dominance, and drafted, because of his conditioning and expertise, into the domovoi.
Dorian was a troubled soul, clearly, a restless heart. How, Lih wondered, did one man contain so much within one lifetime? Bonded into two different institutions that were ordinarily served unto death.
Two consequences were clear.
Atharim’s ambition needed to be stopped. The Atharim were so effective that, if they acted openly, the CCD would be forced to suspend operations and perhaps lose the supreme authority of Ascendancy entirely. Even striking from the shadow, the Atharim proved themselves to be ingenious and ferocious, capable of extreme brutality, even by the standards of the dominances. Setting fire to hide the corpses of kidnapped women, children and the rougarou was certainly extremely effective.
More particularly, what better result could the CCD hope for than to use Atharim knowledge — and method — to hunt monsters, terrorists, even the gods themselves?
A further question occurred to Lih. It was actually one that had nagged him for days, and which he had been reluctant to voice.
What if the detective stayed loyal to his former training, and he was now manipulating the CCD into doing Atharim’s dirty work by taking out the channelers on official terms?
Lih frowned, his face sad.
As expected, he couldn’t agree with this type of thinking after all. He’d protect his people, even if it meant being bloodied again. The women and children were innocent.
“Point taken, Sir, that’s always true. In the grand scheme of things, we need to eliminate the threat. But foremost, for us, we just need to protect our people, win or lose. We have to do this—we need to do it, or we’d be good for nothing. I hope your recommendation is accepted, and that the children are being monitored, and not killed?"
Dorian’s face, even when frowning, was stupidly attractive.
As it had been explained to Lih in the debrief, the man was a defector. It wasn’t clear, but it seemed that the detective had once been an Atharim. Later, for reasons Lih didn’t even want to consider, he had renounced his allegiance and joined the forces of the Dominance, and drafted, because of his conditioning and expertise, into the domovoi.
Dorian was a troubled soul, clearly, a restless heart. How, Lih wondered, did one man contain so much within one lifetime? Bonded into two different institutions that were ordinarily served unto death.
Two consequences were clear.
Atharim’s ambition needed to be stopped. The Atharim were so effective that, if they acted openly, the CCD would be forced to suspend operations and perhaps lose the supreme authority of Ascendancy entirely. Even striking from the shadow, the Atharim proved themselves to be ingenious and ferocious, capable of extreme brutality, even by the standards of the dominances. Setting fire to hide the corpses of kidnapped women, children and the rougarou was certainly extremely effective.
More particularly, what better result could the CCD hope for than to use Atharim knowledge — and method — to hunt monsters, terrorists, even the gods themselves?
A further question occurred to Lih. It was actually one that had nagged him for days, and which he had been reluctant to voice.
What if the detective stayed loyal to his former training, and he was now manipulating the CCD into doing Atharim’s dirty work by taking out the channelers on official terms?
Lih frowned, his face sad.
As expected, he couldn’t agree with this type of thinking after all. He’d protect his people, even if it meant being bloodied again. The women and children were innocent.
“Point taken, Sir, that’s always true. In the grand scheme of things, we need to eliminate the threat. But foremost, for us, we just need to protect our people, win or lose. We have to do this—we need to do it, or we’d be good for nothing. I hope your recommendation is accepted, and that the children are being monitored, and not killed?"
Viktor Lih
Officer of CCDPD
Officer of CCDPD