Drawn to the Flame

Having repressed the serial killer Anna's memories and armed with the knowledge to sealed her powers, the cabal discuss how they will approach her. Valkyrie recommends a cautious approach. They decide to scry her first and rest up before they confront her, ideally taking advantage of her confusion and memory loss. While Mammon is recovering his mental fortitude after the devastating Astral battle, Adele scries Anna, finding her in a daze, wandering about and lost. It seems the journey into the Astral has worked. Adele and Valkyrie put together a care package for her, with food and new clothes to help her make a fresh start.

The next day the cabal regroups and plans the ritual. They decide to do it at the factory Anna is hiding in and to convince her she was possessed. Using this ruse they hope to convince her of their good intentions. Valkyrie will use telekinesis to restrain her if necessary. Mammon takes a few items along, a rosary and a bible, to imply that he is a priest. At the factory, Valkyrie scouts the outside of the building finding four exits. From the scrying, they know Anna is crouched in a corner room eating. Entering through the most easily accessed doorway, Mammon walks slowly through a large dark empty room. The others wait outside in case he needs help and to ensure Anna does not escape. When he gets close enough he calls out to Anna. She asks who he is and why he is here. He explains that he is looking for her and that he knows she is in some trouble. He convinces her that she was possessed and not in control of her actions. He also says he can help her. After some persuading, she emerges and allows him to 'exorcise' her. After an hour long ritual, her powers are sealed away. Afterwards Mammon continues to talk to her, trying to learn the limits of her memory. Eventually, satisfied that she remembers nothing about the demon or her reasons for trying to kill Adele, he leads her to his local church and places her in their care.

Meanwhile Adele questions Hope on her feelings about this outcome. The ghost of her friend is unhappy with this resolution, feeling that Anna has gotten away with murder. The young mage then collects Anna's wall of newspaper clippings to analyze later. She finds that Anna had already created a list of 25 names of who might be the third person the demon had told her about.

A couple weeks pass, when Quick relays a message to Valkyrie that Callahan is in town. Valkyrie calls him up at his hotel and sets up a meeting at a local coffee shop. There they chat about his legacy, the Tamers of Fire. Valkyrie is interested in joining. Unfortunately her choice of mentors is limited. There are only two other so-called Champions in the city: Callahan's mentor White Ash and the mad Libertine Janus. Valkyrie does some research on each. White Ash is currently living in Gary with the rest of the Iron Hand. He is a shell of what he once was, worn down by decades of fighting and drug abuse. Janus was his final student, a Free Council member prone to paradoxes who runs an underground boxing club. She debates long and hard about which to approach. Janus is clearly mad from the rumors but White Ash means she might encounter the Black Dog, who may harbor some hostility from his banishment. Despite this Colt endorses White Ash, who might be redeemed.

Favoring Callahan's mentor, Adele and Valkyrie head to Gary. Along the way they notice the resonance of decay and violence slowly build up. The entire town is falling apart and its shadow reflection is a bleak place of ruins and violence. But near the Consilium headquarters, they find a pristine area spared from the overwhelming resonances. At the Iron Hand's sanctum, an old white mansion, they are greeted by White Ash. He is spaced out and high. Valkyrie drops Callahan's name and explains her mission. The old mage tries to shake off his stupor. He explains that to take her on as a student she will first need to complete a quest. He instructs her to shut down a group of drug runners known as the Vice Dragons. Valkyrie recalls that they are a biker gang who are known to ferry drugs into the city.

After she and Adele return, the cabal discuss her mission. They decide the best way to put the gang out of action is to first identify the members and then find their hideout and possibly their suppliers. Then they can tip off the cops and setup a sting. Valkyrie takes to the streets to find out more. She learns the name of one of their lieutenants, Jose Guarez, and that they get their drugs from a supplier down south, likely outside of the state. Adele talks to Miguel who knows of them. They are led by a man named Estavan whose gotten really weird in the last month or so. Also they work for the Iron Hand. They can often be found at the Blue Pig, a dive in Engelwood.

Faced with this new knowledge Valkyrie questions what White Ash is up to. Colt speculates that maybe the Iron Hand wants to get rid of Estavan. They decide to stakeout the Blue Pig in the safety of Twilight. After several hours they spot the gang led by a man possessed by a fire spirit. Mammon is able to learn that the man, who they guess is Estavan, is Claimed by the spirit. They tail the gang to a large rundown house, where the members rest and store their drugs. They also find two other gang members under the influence of fire spirits, though these are only possessed and not Claimed.

Forewarned they decide how to deal with the situation. The possessed and Claimed are going to be a problem in setting the gang up for the police. They consider sympathetically exorcising the spirits but ultimately decide to do it from Twilight. They return the following night with several prepared soul jars. The first possessed person is easily exorcised and the spirit is trapped in a bottle before it can do anything. But when they go to get the other, they find it had abandoned the body and attempts to ambush them in Twilight. Luckily they force it into a bottle before it can attack. But by this point Estavan has left. They track him to a locus where they find him waiting in Shadow in the reflection of a greasy burger joint.

With the Fire Claimed waiting for them, the cabal decides to send Valkyrie in there to fight him and render him unconscious. After placing many protective and enhancing spells on her, she steps into shadow. Sneaking up invisibly, she surprises the biker knocking him to the ground. He attempts to set her on fire, igniting the greases and oils on the ground around them. Protected by magic she continues to stab at him, eventually knocking him unconscious and into a coma. The others cross over and stabilize him. Then with Colt using Life magic to strengthen the mortal portion of the Claimed, Mammon is able to exorcise the criminal without killing him. They bottle the last spirit and let the cops arrest everyone. Questioning the spirits reveals they were gathering forces for the upcoming resurrection of the Great Fire Spirit, though the spirits remain confused about the specifics.

Valkyrie returns alone to Gary to talk to White Ash. At the door to the Iron Hand's sanctum, she is confronted by Black Dog who points his .44 Magnum straight at her. Before he can attack her, White Ash appears and forces his cabal mate to back down. Redeemed the old mage leaves with his new student. Now homeless though, he is forced to take advantage of the cabal's hospitality for a week.

After he has left, Adele convinces the others to talk with Dante and determine if he really was behind the aborting of Anna's Awakening. They meet him and question him about it. But he seems to know nothing about the situation and claims to have never consciously encountered her. After explaining everything they thank him for his time and warn him about the rumors of the Great Fire Spirit return, though Colt's ramblings make the censor question the Thyrsus's sanity. Still uncertain Valkyrie asks White Ash to view the past. Guiding him to the spot and time, he is able to look back through the years and confirm that Dante was there and that he did cause the crash. Unfortunately that information isn't enough to bring a charge against him or explain why he did it.

Several weeks later, each member of the cabal receives a card in the mail from Madame Cleo Verthank, Old World Oracle. No number is listed and the card is devoid of sympathetic attachments. Eerily the cards, on faded yellow stock, were sent 43 years ago. The invitation is to meet her down at the Navy Pier, at the Thistle and Thorn, in 3 days.