Two Years Less One Day
By JK Fie'r
Summary:
While there is no definition of 'fraudulently', which is universally applicable, generally speaking, it refers to conduct which is dishonest and morally wrong. A bit of introspection for Vicki, set shortly after her final confrontation with Henry in Season Two's 'Wrapped'.
Author's Notes: I have only managed to see three episodes of Blood Ties, I'm afraid. I'm usually far more interested in getting at least a series in full watched before I decide to go off and write fanfic for it, but I'm afraid that isn't going to happen this round.
This particular fic deals with the Canadian Criminal Code. My personal reference is the 2008 Martin's Criminal Code, Student Edition.
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Victoria?
No, that's not my name. I'm Vicki, see?
Pun not intended.
I was a Police Officer. Toronto. We're actually actively hiring women these days.
…
Correction: They're actually doing more active hiring these days, women especially on the list. I miss quite a few things – the ability to get by with the wave of a badge; I don't miss the paperwork.
These days, I'm a Private Investigator. And no, it's not like it is in all those old detective novels. The stuff that pays for my bread and butter has nothing to do with jewel heists that only I can solve while speaking in something that looks an awful lot like innuendo half the time.
Yeah, you can tell I'm long tired of any references to The Pink Panther as well. Closest I've ever come to tracking down a diamond for some wealthy heiress was this one time a client lost her favourite earring on the sidewalk.
It turned out her dog had eaten it. I didn't get paid for that assignment.
Speaking of things that don't pay too well…
Okay, one of my friends is a Vampire. He's got quite a good little series of comic books (no, sorry, not Graphic Novels, still comic books to me, thanks). That actually seems to be paying somewhat better than I'm getting in profits these days, but I could be wrong. I've never taken a look at his accounts, so he could just be living off past earnings. Do Vampires keep bank accounts?
Don't believe me?
Didn't think you would.
Come to think of it, I don't think he thinks I'm his friend anymore.
Not really.
I…
I hurt him.
I saved him, but I hurt him.
I did something that he can't forgive.
I used magic.
Okay, that doesn't sound so bad. But he said I made a deal with the Devil.
What, me Faustus?
Okay, he was more into demon, not devil. There's probably a difference there.
There was a time when I wouldn't have considered any of that possible either.
Vampires. Demons. Devils. Witchcraft.
I used to think that Witchcraft was just something I could charge people with for charging $20 a 'prediction'.
I ran into one of those guys the other week. He was in the supermarket. Buying Kumquats.
I think I'm guilty of that offence myself. I'm certainly guilty of the 'fraudulently' part. If it weren't for the little parts in Section 365 that specify 'pretends'…
I'd have broken the law.
I became a Police Officer because I believed in Justice. I used to think that meant believing in the Law and the Rule of Law too (no matter what my teachers said).
Now… not so much.
Even so.
I hurt my friend. I hurt my friend, I broke our friendship, and I have apparently made a deal with the devil.
mala prohibita? No. mala in se?
…
No.
I had to help him. I had to keep him safe.
My friend. I wasn't going to lose him to some zombie.
I did what was right, even if he can't see it, even if he can't admit it.
Then…
Why do I feel like such a jerk?
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Section 365 reads thus:
Every one who fraudulently
(a) pretends to exercise or to use any kind of witchcraft, sorcery, enchantment or conjuration,
(b) undertakes, for a consideration, to tell fortunes,
(c) pretends from his skill or knowledge of an occult or crafty science to discover where or in what manner anything that is supposed to have been stolen or lost may be found,
is guilty of an offence punishable on summary conviction.
Summary Convictions are a bit like an American Misdemeanour, and carry a maximum sentence of two years less one day.
mala in se and mala prohibita are legal terms, being 'wrong in itself' and 'wrong against the law' respectively.