Snippet #2249278

Tekil hoped Quest would do what he said, and think about it. He could deal with his incredulity later. He showed himself out quickly ignoring the Maori’s remark about his television show, and breathed the cold air. It was snowing, and Tekil always found Babylon’s snow to be quite different from the one in Denmark. It was almost as if the very snow in the city was unclean.

The Dane returned to his apartment, hoping to decide what to do with Quest's unwillingness to join the order. He thought of calling his mother, hoping that she could tell him what to do, but Tekil already knew what her answer would be. Leave him be, Arataki would say, and Tekil couldn’t agree with that. He spent the rest of his day practicing with Slagænde and sipping a bottle of cheap vodka, trying to drive away his worries at each swing.

The Reaper was pulled out of his daydreams by yet another message from HQ. As if having to deal with your mentor’s son rebelling against his legacy wasn’t enough for one day. But when Tekil pulled out the phone and glanced at the flashing screen, the orders surprised him. First of all, they didn’t come from his direct superior in the order, but from Alan Darkmere himself. The Dane saw the Grim Reaper a dozen of times in his entire career, and never even exchanged words with him since he was admitted in the order so many years ago. To receive orders directly from him without previous notice was odd, to say the least. And the message ordered Tekil to report at HQ as soon as possible. Strange.

In all his years of career, the Dane had learned to trust in his instincts, and they were usually right. That unknown feeling that warns you when walking straight to a trap had saved Tekil’s life more than once, and now that feeling was there again, yelling something Tekil couldn’t ignore. It just didn’t seem right. Something big had happened, something that concerned all of the Reapers, and that would have to be something of the highest gravity. Tekil feared for the safety of the younger Reapers and wondered if it wouldn’t have been best just to force Quest to come to the headquarters anyway, but it was too late for that. Whatever happened, the Reaper base was probably the safest place to be right now, and where Tekil could make himself useful.

The Dane sighed, got dressed and started making his way to the business district.