The train was going down countless bridges from level to level between totally similar rows of office blocks and flickering shop signs. I leaned on the wall between two dusty windows rubbing my forehead. My reflection in the glass looked quite pathetic but not out of my character of a hive ladette breaking bad for the first time. Lipstick had smudged all over my chin, eyeshadow glitter had fallen out to my cheeks, dress ruffles were dirty and torn.

More and more clerks were boarding the train until it was so packed I could hardly breathe. A few stray pieces of glitter fell on an uptight lady's flawless costume when someone opened a window, and she looked at me with contempt. I turned my head towards the window glass trying to figure out where we were going to. The route map was out of sight behind numerous backs in business suits, the clock showed totally nonsensical date and time, as it often happened in suburb trains. It was approximately half past midnight by local time, and the train was probably one of the last till next morning.

Downtown streets gave way to more relaxed suburb districts. Not as dirty and depressed as the outskirts where we had stopped, but quite poorly lit and littered. Dark alleys, cheap townhouses, convenience shops with faded advertisement posters. The clerks were leaving in dozens on every station, and soon I found my way to the map. I typed in the name of the next station and traced the line. It went even further than the outskirts, to the seastrand storages and villages.

Still a great distance to the madman's mansion. I found the route to my destination but it could be reached in the morning only. My dataslate had some charge, so the best solution would be disembarking in a quiet district to find a hostel until Fluffster picked me up.

He reached out to me even quicker. Right after the train left another crowded platform, I heard his voice from the vox bead.

'Do you copy, Volentia? We've located you. Get off at Cypress Grove Cemetery.'

'Sounds promising.'

'Memory of the fleeting character of life is always useful. I'll wait for you there. Now disconnect for your pursuers don't find you.'

'One last question, is the boy okay?'

'So-so. You'll see when we meet.'

Short beeps in the vox. Three more stations to go. I sat down on a peeled seat next to a snoring elderly clerk. The mysterious trackers could have sent their agents to every station on the way so I sneakily checked the laspistol and two emergency grenades. Honestly, I didn't remember any open conflicts with other Inquisitors since the start of my career but my late mentor had made so many bitter enemies they'd be glad to remove any of his former apprentices.

The flash drive with the ill-fated diary was still hidden in the cleavage, and I didn't dare to open it in public. When I recalled that, the faint smell of musk appeared again like a faded trail of a worn-off perfume. The world seemed to be drenched in that damn scent. Captain Atlas had written about that scent of insanity in the logs of his ominous quest. Something emanated by the puzzling entity that dwelled in the spectral fortress among the cursed desert sands. It might be a Greater Daemon of even more terrifying might than Lutetia or an ancient xenos being. A shadow in the warp powerful enough to ward off the masters of the Neverborn. A distant and subtle, but disturbing link to the ever-hungry swarms ready to devour the Galaxy.

The train slowed down going along a dull, grey wall of rockcrete. Here and there triangle tops of black cypresses and mourning angels of the richest graves stuck over the fence, and not so pious graffiti adorned the wall.

I walked out to the old, shabby platform. A few night passengers were smoking or buying tickets and drinks at the vending machines. To the right I saw the outline of a cemetery chapel lit by a few lamps even at night.

I heard Fluffster's voice again. 'Good. Now go to the lychgate. It's not closed.'

I parted with the other passengers at the bus terminal. The deserted churchyard with faded flowerbeds, a flower shop with a clumsily painted lily on the sign, a shop of religious books and icons with an Aquila banner in the show window. Not a single person around. Massive forged leaves of the lychgate were half-open as if inviting another bad poet to contemplate the moon over the graves and write a tasteless elegy to the inevitable death.

The drowsy watchman didn't even raise his head when a lass walked past him on shaky legs. Fluffster was standing in the shadow of a garish mausoleum under a tall cypress tree.

'Hi there, Volentia. What the hell has happened again?'

'Someone powerful enough to employ blanks.'

'Are you sure they targeted you?'

'At least two of them pursued me from the bar to the station, and a mercenary tried to catch me.'

'But they didn't bother to follow you here.'

'Maybe Aphedron or the drowned swordmaster were worth their attention more than my petty person.'

'Likelier, a team of Silent Sisters has taken you for a rogue psyker but got a call from the Inquisition on the report.'

'Anyway, they've driven me to this place of mourning.'

'I keep a candle burning for myself so I won't feel all alone.' Fluffster quoted an ancient poem turning on his flashlight.

I recalled another line gazing at the gloomy landscape. 'Yet we have never celebrated anything here at all.'

'Hope we won't hear voices from the walls like the nameless poet. But I wouldn't be that sure counting the odd nature of the whole place.'

'You mean the whole planet.'

'This very spot as well. I've invited you here not only because it was easier to park the owl on the other side and this is the shortest path. Look at this tasteless monument.'

He walked along the mausoleum wall lighting up the tiles. Most of them missing or broken, the remaining ones had relatively typical abstract patterns of circles and curves. It could be just fatigue and imagination, but I felt vague similarity between the ornaments and the weird symbols on the paper towels.

'These lines and spirals are common here?' I walked around to take a few picts.

'The link is way more impressive. The grave is old, but few really know it's been empty for a few centuries. Look here, the lock and the doors still bear marks of old robbery.'

'Who was buried here then?'

'A mindless adventurer like those three morons. He arrived here from a distant sector with great wealth and was quite renowned for venturing south one day. When he came back, he brought no treasures or relics but a strange illness. He locked himself in his inner quarters and never allowed anyone in but a few specially programmed servitors. Not a single pict of him after the return can be found. Finally, the servitors buried him here in a sealed coffin, and a tech-heretical script destroyed them within minutes. But the story didn't end with the burial. While his distant relatives were coming to the planet to divide his immense property, the mausoleum was robbed. The doors were mauled, the coffin smashed to pieces, and the body vanished along with the man's treasures rumoured to be buried with him. Vid-logs of that night were damaged, so the case has never been solved. One thing is known for sure, one of his treasures was a crystal he'd always worn on his neck since his arrival.'

'Where have you got that? Standard data from the library of Uebotia has no record of this case.'

'The Mechanicus are a separate branch with arcane knowledge. You can guess what they called 'crystal'.'

'Another madman encountered the same strange phenomenon and got a desire to get the fabled prize. I wish I knew how many of them there's been.'

'More than you can imagine. We own a piece of the same shard. The mysterious robber has probably sold or intentionally lost the man's cursed trinket and his diary to let the knowledge pass on to another adventurous fool.'

'If we really crack the nut I bet my career will move on,' I said cheerfully. 'We just mustn't let Pansexualis get there before us. We'll study the diary on the way.'

'Sister's medications must have already worked. We'll interrogate the madman and embark to the coast.'

'The thing is quite tricky. Smuggler villages on the other side are so warped only a seasoned psyker can find the way to the desert path. My mentor paid a fortune to the old guide who ferried escaped criminals to the cursed place. I'm ready to put our savings on stake as we'll earn much more after the victory.'

Fluffster didn't reply, staring into the darkness with an empty, lifeless gaze. I shook him by the shoulder but he didn't move.

'I have to stay here,' his tone was impassive.

'Fluffster, let's go home, quicker. The foul place's sorcery is dangerous even to you.'

'Eternal slumber with my dead friends.'

'No nonsense.' I tugged him by the paw, and he stepped forward like a mindless puppet. 'Follow me.'

I moved step by step with great effort, hardly able to drag the hulking rodent to the parking as his legs were already limp, his head droopy.

'Let me go back,' he mumbled. 'Let me sleep among my long-dead friends.'

'Who's done that crap to you?' I pulled him one more meter forward and leaned on a cypress tree to have a respite.

I probed his mind, and the backlash was sudden and violent. I flopped to the ground and released Fluffster's paw. He hobbled back to the mausoleum, bumping into gravestones and fences. I leapt back to my feet and ran after him. He stopped and turned to me with a grimace I'd never seen on his face before.

'I've got even more magnificent with my latest acquisition,' he spoke in a voice too familiar. 'Look how I can make him fall down and join the dead in their slumber, or dance an obscene cancan between the graves.'

'Pansexualis, I was sure you'd found your last shelter on the bottom of the deepest cove.'

'Don't bet on it, babe. Your wimpy boy couldn't even overtake me. Well, I cannot blame him as the swordsman's bauble's made my psychic power wax to yet unseen might.'

'I've heard there're more people after your head.'

'Let them catch up with me on the other side.' He burst out with laughter. 'You're invited as well if you haven't lost your stupid hope to unlock the gate before me.'

I grabbed Fluffster's paw before he could reach for my buttocks. Fluffster staggered, and his head drooped to his chest as before when Aphedron left him. I went on dragging him through the cemetery. The way seemed as long as if it took a dozen miles to get to the opposite exit. When I stopped to recuperate again, I activated the vox.

'Brother, do you copy? Get to the gates to meet us. Fluffster has suffered a vicious attack.'

'What's happened?' I heard the marine's anxious voice. 'I'll chase the assaulters.'

'It's been witch-stuff. Just help me haul our Magos to the owl.'

Angel met me right at the lychgate and led Fluffster to the parking holding him firmly by both arms. His festive garb was torn by multiple shots and blade slashes, and his face was tired and pale.

'What about Pansexualis?' I asked him.

'I've got close to him at the passage into the underhive. I shot off a couple of his tentacles and made a few holes in his trunk but his abominable patron healed the wounds in mere seconds. He mocked me and yelled insults as he swung his kine-blades by his witch-power. They stuck in my chest and limbs, and I fell down from the bridge. When I climbed back, Aphedron was gone. I've failed you.'

He put Fluffster on a couch and sat down with a deep sigh. I patted his head.

'We'll chase him soon. Let's pick up the ours and check you for poisoning.'

Fluffster had allowed me limited access to the owl's Machine Spirit, so I found the shortest way back to the mansion and started the engine. The fog was still thick so we had to stay grounded till late morning. About ten hours to reach the place counting early hour traffic jams.

I lay down on another couch and pulled a plaid over my head. Everything drowned in slumberous darkness, and a stronger wave of musk scent hit my nose. Already falling asleep, I could now feel the hidden flash drive touch my skin right against my heart. Dull burning pain. Sleep paralysis almost similar to my previous nightmares about the chaotic shrine.

Imudon didn't appear on that night as he'd been silent for all nights we'd spent in the city. Scarlet lines weaved into circles and spirals with sickening speed and irregularity till they unfurled again into a stunning tapestry of sunset clouds. I heard a distant call from beyond. A beast's growl. A mother's soft murmur. Something yearned for me with a lover's lust and a beggar's hunger.

I walked along a twisting path among the ever-shifting dunes of the cursed desert. All of my friends had vanished in the sands, a deadly sacrifice for the hidden treasure. I stopped at this crazy thought. I couldn't have done it. The outline in the distance came closer even when I didn't move. Now I could see every rounded tower, every parapet curve of its spectral terraces.

Colossal gates of red gold towered over me as I found myself standing right at the locked entrance like on my first visit to the Casbah. Carved shapes of theroid monsters came alive when I looked at them. They reached out with their claw-limbs, opened their drooling maws in wordless hunger. I froze at the awe of the place's raw might.

I heard a sound of steps, and a tall shape leaned over me. Angel was alive, he'd been able to escape the perilous traps of the warped sands. The glowing scarlet of his armour was brighter than the polished gold of the gates. He stared at me with a gaze I'd never noticed in him before. More shameless and hungry than Pansexualis after a deal of junk.

'What's happened to you?' I recoiled but my hands froze when I tried to make the holy sign.

'Nothing at all.' He grinned showing his fangs red with blood. 'You've missed me.'

I stared back into his unfamiliar, cruel eyes of living flame. He extended both hands to me. His voice was almost kind.

'Your suspicion hurts me. Come on here, sweet girl.'

I reached for him as if something forced me to do that. His glove squeezed my wrist and dragged me close. Fanged jaws opened over my face, and the being's theroid tongue licked my neck. Suddenly the marine's perfect features formed a hideous, bestial grimace. He hurled me back with an angry snarl, and the vision faded.

I sat up quickly and yelled in terror at the sight of the Blood Angel's pale face.

'You've seen an Imudon nightmare again. That's just me.' He laid me back to the couch and picked up the plaid from the floor.

'I'm afraid I've got another set of obsessive visions,' I grumbled rubbing my eyes. 'We have to do this quickly before we go completely nuts.'

'Fluffster is in an even worse state.' He shook his head, and I shivered when his sharp canines flickered white in the lamplight. 'He hasn't come to himself yet, mumbling weird words in an unknown language.'

'How has your legion got the Red Thirst?' An unexpected question popped up in my head.

He flinched as if in pain. 'That's the shadow of my gene-father's gruesome martyrdom, like the Black Rage. Why do you ask? You'd better not meddle into our legion affairs. We're among the most loyal to the Emperor after the Great Angel gave his life battling the Arch-Traitor.'

'Just a coincidence. Wake me up when we're there.'

When I walked out of the owl to the mansion roof, it was already noon. It had got warmer, and black thunderstorm clouds loomed over the city fully veiling the high spires. The dusty air was stale and still.

Uncle met us with a sigh of relief. His face was neatly shaven as usual but circles under the eyes were even darker than yesterday.

'I've spent the whole night here waiting for you. We thought Aphedron had captured or killed you.'

'He's harmed Fluffster and Angel. Let Sister help them now.'

'She's busy doing another injection. But that doesn't seem to help at all. At the first doze, he got almost comatose, at the second one he started whispering something we couldn't understand. He's lying in his bed, pale as a corpse.'

'Let's watch over him for a few hours but we have to embark as soon as possible.'

'Where for this time?' He frowned sadly.

'Don't lose your spirits, Uncle. I've succeeded in snatching the diary from Aphedron. When we get south and solve the rest of the case, we'll get a lucrative award and maybe even a promotion for a good place of service.'

'Don't boast about that before we're finished, lassie. Fluffster told me yesterday someone else was chasing you.'

'A team of nulls. If they haven't arrived here yet, they don't need us right now.'

I went downstairs to the attic. It was remarkably cleaner, and a few more windows were open to let in fresh air. Sister was sitting in the corner next to a dirty pile of rags.

'He's come here right after you left. I've decided to let him have his rest while I'm treating his illness.'

Her eyes were red and dry as if she'd cried for hours. Her hand was trembling when I shook it.

'What's up with you? Everyone has got their share of troubles tonight.'

'I didn't tell Uncle. He was already too worried.' She covered her face with both hands. 'It still hurts.'

'The madman has attacked you?'

'Dreams like before,' she whispered curling up into a ball. 'He appeared before me, a snarling beast in human form. I was cowardly, I fled instead of fighting him to the end. His eyes glowed like embers, and his mouth was wet with blood.'

She hadn't seen the Pirate King in her nightmares for a couple of months by now. What had the infamous Black Legion captain to do with the place?

'He overtook me and sank his fangs into my throat. His shape was more of a beast than a man then, and hideous dagger-claws tore into my flesh. I struggled and called out to the Emperor, and He alone let me wake up alive.'

I hugged the sobbing Repentia.

'Your faith is so strong you're able to pray even when overcome by chaotic nightmares. The Emperor will never leave your devotion without answer.'

'He's appeared at the sector borders again, Fluffster says.'

'That damn heretic will get a good beating from the ours. Let's hurry now, Fluffster and Brother need you.'

The disturbing news made her brace herself. She picked up her medical gear and headed to the stairway. I followed her into the owl where Fluffster was still rambling in fever, his fur wet with sweat. Angel had given him a share of his emergency stimulators and had applied a cold pack on his head but the fever was getting worse. Sister wiped Fluffster's face and made a few injections.

'The same monster that assaulted both of us in the sleep. Aphedron could have never become that powerful. He hacked Fluffster's mind just to deliver a few customary threats but then the abomination slipped into the open door.'

Angel's wounds had almost healed, to our surprise. He was seemingly nervous, much more than during the flight. Clenching his fists and licking his lips, he paced back and forth across the owl. When Sister seated him down and started examining his face, I noticed that the whites of his eyes had turned red.

'Don't tell Uncle,' I whispered into her ear when Angel got up again and walked off to the back wall. 'But let's prepare for a burst of rage. Sadly typical for his legion.'

'But why? He looks healthy and hasn't been touched by warp-filth.'

'A long story from the days of the Heresy, they say. When they're with their chapters, a special chaplain arrives to send them to a loon detachment or chop off their heads. I don't know that in detail.'

'Fluffster would tell us if he came back to himself.' Tears rolled down her cheeks.

'And we don't even have a damn powerful psyker to wake him up.'

'We don't need witch-stuff,' she said stubbornly. 'Only the Emperor can bring him back to his senses.'

Uncle opened the door, and his face was even grumpier.

'As if the weather itself has plotted against us.'

I went out to the roof and turned northward. A sinister wall of black clouds had overtaken half of the sky, and both the city outline and distant hills were hidden behind the grey shroud of heavy rain. The wind had grown so strong clouds of roadside dust reached the ground floor windows.

'We have to leave right now. Now or never.'

'The news do say this will be the mightiest storm in decades,' Uncle grunted browsing his dataslate.

'That's why. I doubt the man's revelations will overweight the cost of repairing the owl, especially when Fluffster is ill.'

As soon as I ended the phrase, I heard a faint sound of steps from the attic.

'He's recovering,' Sister smiled. 'Let's take him there from this horrible junkyard.'

'It'll be too dangerous for both parties,' I shook my head.

'Great is her power and formidable her battle-fury that cast down the Warrior and turned his flame to ashes,' the madman howled in a faultlessly clear voice. 'Yet her brother-rival never sleeps. He's robbed me of her burning presence.'

'Delirious as before.' I felt fed up with strange occurrences and occult symbols. 'Don't miss us too much, Glyceris.'

I locked the owl door and leaned over the control panel to trace the route to the southern shores.