"Done already, Lydia? Of course you are," Lauchman sighed. "Do you want to stay here with me and collect papers? You could be useful."
"Sure," I shrugged. Sebastian was busy pacing around the aisles and making sure no one was talking or doing anything sketchy otherwise. I settled next to the professor at the front of the room and he handed me an answer key and a pen. I marked down quizzes for the next few minutes until time was called. I started to pass back the papers, but Lauchman stopped me.
"No, no, why don't you stay and help Michaelis and me grade?" My stomach squirmed and I got chills up my back. I managed a smile and took the pen back. Some shit was up.
Finally the last students had filed out; I tensed as Lauchman stood with a sigh and locked the door. Sebastian was seated beside me, and he shot me an expressionless glance.
"Now you two, don't do anything rash. I just wanna talk," he sighed. I clenched my jaw. No way. No way he was in on it this whole time, no way he was the one who'd been fucking with us! It made too much sense, all of a sudden, because he knew us, knew how to watch from the sidelines and -
"Lydia, calm down." I blinked and looked down at my hands. They were leaving dents in the table.
Whoops.
"I don't want a fight. I just want to get us all on the same page, here," Lauchman scratched his head.
"Do you really think that locked door will do much to keep us in here?" Sebastian frowned. He looked mildly perturbed.
"It's not to keep you in so much as it is to keep other nosy kids out. Like I said, I don't want trouble. I just want to know what's going on around here. I wasn't going to say anything at all," he frowned, shuffling over to the chalk board to erase all the chalk off of it. "But three demons and a gaggle of Hellsings is just too much to keep quiet." He neatly put away some papers.
"What's your point?" Sebastian asked.
"I just want to make sure I'm not going to be caught in this. I'm retired, as it were." He gave an almost strained smile. "I'm a Hellsing too, you know. Removed a bit, but still close enough to get involved if things get nasty."
"Alright," I said hesitantly. "What do you want..." I glanced at Sebastian, considering asking him if it was alright to tell him before deciding I was going to anyways, "what do you want to know?"
"I don't need gory details. I just want to know why a full-fledged and powerful demon has decided to take," he shook his head in disbelief, "not only two other demons under his wing, but a demon hunter, as well. Something's got to be going on."
"Fine. Fair enough," Sebastian grinned. "I'll tell you, but now that we know about you, we'll be just waiting for you to slip up and give us an excuse to kill you." I shivered.
Maybe he had been being polite around my family, after all.
"Someone summoned a demon and tried to trap them here. They were largely unsuccessful, but now that demon can't return home. This was annoying enough, but someone tried to poison Lydia. We think it was her own cousin, to complicate matters. And now we wonder how complex the conspiracy really is."
Lauchman frowned profusely.
"Well, that's unfortunate. Have you tried a contract?"
"Working in it," I replied.
"Sigils?"
"Don't insult us. We're researching," Sebastian sighed.
"How long have you known?" I asked Lauchman.
"How long have you known?" He gave a pointed look back at me. "I've known about Michaelis since the first day I laid eyes on him in the interview. Hired him on the spot," he grunted. "Knew he'd he a good worker."
"You really don't care, do you?" Sebastian shook his head at Lauchman. "Then as long as you stay out of our way you're in no danger from us."
"From you. But not from who's messing with demons and the affiliated. Great. Just what I needed." He flopped down at his desk. "That's all I wanted. You can go, I know you have business elsewhere, Michaelis." Sebastian stood and nodded to the both of us, apparently satisfied with the conversation, before gliding out. "And Lydia," he added as I gathered my things, "I still think you could do worse."