Characters / Pact: Other Humans and Powers

Tropes pertaining to the other humans and powers of Pact. For other characters in Pact see here.

Other Humans and Powers

Toronto Powers

The Lord of Toronto

The Lord of Toronto/Conquest

The current Lord of Toronto, and an incarnation of Conquest. Tricked by Rose and bound by Blake in Void 7.7

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• Anthropomorphic Personification: He's the incarnation of Conquest, a sapient embodiment of a concept, and what amounts a god as long as there is some form of conquest, be it business or war. He is, however, a weaker Incarnation as there are multiples running around and he needs more power.
• Arc Villain: As the Lord of Toronto, Conquest serves as the villain of arcs 4 through 7, attempting to force Blake into his service and enacting a war throughout his city to beat the Thorburn into submission.
• Bayonet Ya: His rifle has a bayonet attached.
• BFS: Wields one twice as long as Blake is tall.
• The Corrupter: He seemed to have been having this effect on Rose, tainting her into taking more violent measures while seeking more power through her hair being used as a binding.
• Gender Bender: In the Possession arc Conquest takes on a female form inside Rose's mind.
• Humanoid Abomination: Blake describes him as looking like he came out of a diorama, complete with lifeless "painting eyes."
• I Am What I Am: He follows his nature, which is that of conquest. Despite the fact that it would put him at odds with Isadora and Diana, he wants the power that Blake can offer as a Diabolist and will fight over it.
• I Have Your Wife: Binds Rose to him using a magical chain so that Blake will do tasks for him. And if he just so happens to die then Rose is his pet diabolist forever.
• Horsemen of the Apocalypse: When Blake firsts learns about Conquest, he asks if he's one of the Horsemen of the Apocalypse. The answer is both yes and no, and also that a Conquest from Toronto starting the apocalypse would make a weak narrative.
• Mind Rape: Attempts this on Blake in Void 7.6 by sending echoes of his past at him.
• Plunder: He a taker that leaves things bereft, as such he only accepts the painting that was offered by Blake when he claimed that the artist would miss it, always feeling a pang when she recalled it in the future, after coming from broken origins and putting so much effort into it.
• Puppet King: All the major powers in Toronto know that he's getting steadily weaker, and has been for some time despite the second wind that 9/11 gave him. They let him be because if he was deposed, one of them would have to take his place, and none of them are immortal. Meanwhile, they can work around him and manipulate him as necessary. This of course starts to fall to pieces once Blake starts messing with the status quo.
• Reality Warper: The environment he's in warps from his sheer presence, and within his domain he was able to pull Rose from her mirror and into a physical body.
• To the Pain: As an Incarnation of Conquest, torture is part of his domain, and he loves to talk about what he's going to do before he does it. Most especially obvious when he corners Rose and Blake, and elaborates on what Blake is going to look like when he's done.
• Trophy Room: His home is littered with the spoils of his conquests, mainly pieces of their homes and themselves in the form of psychic echoes. The three beings he wanted Blake to bind were going to be mere additions to it.
• Was Once a Man: Was apparently human before becoming what he is now. His body was that of the father of Fell's Grandmother, and therefore his great-grandfather.

The Eye

A being in the service of Conquest, with fire powers and an eye so bright it hurts to look at. It is a manifestation of the 1904 Fire of Toronto.

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• Anthropomorphic Personification: Of the 1904 Fire of Toronto.
• Convection, Schmonvection: Averted, his abilities with fire are such that the air around him is burnt away.
• Body Horror: Blake describes him as being covered in blisters and burns.
• Humanoid Abomination: Takes the form of a man, but isn't human at all.
• No-Sell: Its madness renders it immune to demons of the Choir of Madness.
• Playing with Fire: Has powers over fire.

The High Drunk

Jeremy "High Drunk" Meath

A practitioner in the service of the god Dionysus and husband of Sandra Duchamp.

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• Amicable Exes: With Sandra Duchamp, though they're separated, not divorced.
• Anguished Declaration of Love: He finally tells Sandra that he loves her when he turns on her at the end of 13.7
• The Berserker: A gift from his god, a horn filled with alcohol-laced blood, gives him the fighting ability to fight Isadora-a seven thousand year old sphinx-on equal footing, at the cost of his sanity.
• Combat Pragmatist: His alliance with Blake is pure pragmatism, due to timing rather than any morals. He's not going to betray Sandra when she's having a good day, after all.
• Conditional Powers: He has little power of his own. Instead, he gains favor from Dionysus by honoring him, and then expends that favor by asking his god to act. Thus, his power is contingent on staying in the good graces of Dionysus.
• The Good King: He aspires to be this as Lord of Toronto.
• Intoxication Ensues: All is it takes is calling in a favor.
• Love Cannot Overcome: His relationship with Sandra appears to have ended when his god, displeased with his choice to marry her, forced them to conceive a son.
• Love Epiphany: He has a minor one in his Histories chapter, when he realizes that he can see himself loving Sandra.
• Love Hurts: His and Sandra's love has brought them both sorrow due to their respective positions, him as High Priest of Dionysus and her as a leading member of the Duchamp family. At the start of the story, they haven't talked for seven years.
• Love-Interest Traitor: He turns on the Duchamps and Sandra by siding with Blake.
• Manipulative Bastard: He manipulates the meeting between Blake and the Lord of Toronto so that Blake would be forced into his service, knowing that his lineage would afford him information to beings that would bring defeat and pain, much to the Lord of Toronto's delight.
• Never Gets Drunk: It's stated that when he gets slightly drunk the alcohol ingested would be enough to send a normal man to the emergency room.
• No-Sell: He sloughs off an attack by a demon from the Choir of Madness because he worships a god of madness. He can make others have some resistance to it as well by calling in a favor.
• Perfectly Arranged Marriage: Briefly had this with Sandra, described by him as a kind of "good natured tolerance."
• Working with the Ex: When Sandra calls, he answers, dropping whatever he was doing at the time and heading over to Jacob's Bell.

The Astrologer

Diana Thompson

A Toronto practitioner who holds the title of Astrologer. Threw in her lot with Blake as of the Subordination arc, but is forced into Conquest's service during their competition.

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• Astrologer: Her moniker and schtick.
• Apologetic Attacker: When she acts against Blake and his companions as Conquest's champion, for which she later apologizes. Alexis forgives her, but Fell's family is less understanding.
• Geek: When Blake and company visit her in Void 7.10, she's revealed to be a big one, particularly about computers and how astrology works.
• It's Personal: Hates Conquest because her mentor exchanged his life for hers, becoming one of Conquest's ghosts.
• Legacy Character: Her title is inherited and passed on to a successor when the current holder gets old.
• Mrs. Robinson: What Jeremy claims her to be. That and she may have a thing for Blake being younger.
• Post-Modern Magik: Her magic uses computers and lights to make constellations that she calls spirits into.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: Out of all of the other powers, she's the one who is neither hostile, overbearing, or predatory towards Blake. Blake even thinks to himself she's probably the first practitioner that hadn't screwed him over.

Isadora

A Sphinx and the Sixth Daughter of Phix, she's also an ethics professor at the local university.

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• Berserk Button: The classical answer to Riddle of the Sphinx: Man. Considering it resulted in her mother's death, the only reasons she didn't kill Blake when it came up was because she asked first and even then she was tempted. As she wisely points out, when he admitted it crossed his mind, virtually anything is better than being a smart-ass with a Sphinx.
• Blue-and-Orange Morality: While she's perceptive and familiar with human nature, she's not human and some of the things that clearly bother normal people, such as eating siblings right out of the egg, tend to be normal for her. Her priorities are centered around Karmic Balance and she places that over individuals, which means if someone or several thousand have to go to balance things out better...
• Exposition of Immortality: She repeatedly cites her long familiarity with the patterns of diabolists, and that she was born long before humans started keeping records.
• Friendly Enemy: To Blake. From long experience, she's certain that he's going to break his oaths, fall into diabolism, and generally make the world a worse place-but she does like him, and even gives him advice. Her maiming him was to buy him more time before he died (or provide a clean death compared to what was to come) and she imparted extra good karma. In the end she's the only one who can remember any details about him.
• History Repeats: Long story short, Blake seems to want to do good and probably does, but she's been around long enough to know either he dies young and doing the right thing or he lives and becomes The Corrupter until she puts him down. The best she thinks she can do is wish/offer him a clean death.
• Immortals Fear Death: She swore long ago that she'd put her own survival at the highest priority, and when she thinks herself truly at risk, she'll bargain rather than fight, abandoning whichever cause led her to fight in the first place.
• Karmic Trickster: She's an Other that is tied to Karmic Balance. Her powers and what she can do vary depending on what the person who she judges does. If they lie to her, break tradition, or go against a code, then all bets are off and she can dole out a fitting punishment—namely death. Every death by her hands balances the universe, makes things better overall and cleans up loose ends that get left behind rather than leave behind mistakes.
  • That being said, every decade or so she usually tests students. The ones that do well are given Good Karma, while the ones who don't...well, they disappear overnight.
• Kryptonite Factor: As a Sphinx, which is an other of balance, things that throw it out are harmful to her with demons being the worse. One attack from a demon of the Choir of Madness, which is her opposite entirely put her down for the conflict.
• My Sensors Indicate You Want to Tap That: Describes Tiffany as being "warm for Blake," her crush being very obvious.
• Nay-Theist: Notes in Histories 7 that despite being the daughter of a being created to guard a religious site, she's not exactly inclined to prayer, probably due to her mother's death.
• Riddling Sphinx: Takes after her mother, though her questions tend to be more direct.
• Ripple-Effect-Proof Memory: When the Abstract Demon cuts Blake off, because of her nature she could mitigate most of the damage. As a result she could remember some of the finer details about Blake, although she lost his name in the process, when reality restructured itself.
• Sink or Swim Mentor: Her approach to the students appears to be this, with her killing the ones that don't appease her expectations.
• The Social Darwinist: Ate her weaker siblings after hatching from her egg, with no signs that this is particularly unusual amongst sphinx. She continues this policy with her students-those that fail to appease her are eaten.
• Smug Super: She's an ages-old Sphinx who is confident enough to be lounging in a room filled with people who she's maimed, ruined, or tried to kill completely relaxed while drinking a beer. She's the only one who hadn't been under Conquest's ire and she openly states if she's gunning for someone. She knows flat-out that she's too tough to face head-on and, even though she doesn't gloat, she knows where she stands amongst the rest.
• This Is My Human: She pretty much stated this when she claimed Paige Thorburn. She's a tool in order to exorcise her power.
• Time Abyss: She predates recorded history.
• To Serve Man: She eats people that answer her questions wrong.

Fell

Fell (Malcolm)

A practitioner bound to serve Conquest due to his family being sworn into his service, and not very happy about it. His soul is currently claimed by the Shepherd following his death at the hands of one of the Astrologer's constructs.

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• An Offer You Can't Refuse: Conquest made this offer to his grandfather, Joseph Attwell, giving him the option of refusing and being forsworn. Fell is living with the consequences three generations later.
• Barred from the Afterlife: Due to the Shepherd claiming his soul.
• Born into Slavery: His entire family is this, in service of Conquest. Fell was allowed to live without knowledge of magic until his twelfth birthday, when his own father awakened him and bound him. He's understandably a bit resentful.
• Companion Cube: His car.
• Deadpan Snarker: Mainly towards Blake.
• Drives Like Crazy: Drives really fast as it's the only form of freedom allowed him by Conquest. Even if he dies by chance or accident, there are others who can take his place, so he'll go 90 in a 50 zone.
• Emotion Control: As an enchanter, he can do this with connection-manipulation.
• Forced into Evil: He by no means enjoys being Conquest's servant.
• I Just Want to Be Free: The reason he agrees to be Blake's champion in his war with Conquest is that, even though he's pretty sure Blake is going to lose and knows that it will upset the delicate balance of Toronto even more if Conquest is overthrown, he wants his family to be free. As he says, he really had no choice in the matter.
• Impromptu Tracheotomy: Fell ends up getting shot in the collarbone by a construct of the Astrologer's.
• Master of Illusion: His family lineage is based around being illusionists-though Fell himself is also an enchanter.
• Pet the Dog: Tells Rose that it's best not to struggle when Conquest compels her to tell him their plans.
• Perception Filter: One of his favorite tricks involves doing this-by manipulating connections, he can make people ignore him. He mentions that he could also do this offensively, cutting a victim off from support.
• Restraining Bolt: The oaths he's been forced to swear to Conquest are extremely restrictive, to the point that he and his family can't actually plot to free themselves without several degrees of separation.
• Sour Supporter: During Blake's war with Conquest, he repeatedly informs Blake how much he loathes him for bringing him into it, though he admits that he could have refused but did not for the sake of having a chance to free his family. He also informs Blake that should he appear to be about to lose, he'll kill Blake, exploiting a loophole in the agreed-upon rules to prevent the contest from ending, keep Conquest weak, and maintain his freedom.
• Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: With Blake, when Blake is working to bring Conquest a trio of diabolic creatures-something that he must support, as it benefits Conquest, but which he is strongly opposed to on every other conceivable level. He tells Blake that it would simplify things immensely if he died quickly instead of binding the Others. Also, his entire service to Conquest.
• Would Hurt a Child: Tells Blake that he would kill Ivy if she turned towards diabolism once she's six or twelve, though only as a last resort as merely keeping her from her family legacy would be easier. Blake admits that this is a fairer chance than a lot of people would give her.

The Shepherd

A powerful Valkalla who claims all local ghosts, spirits, spectres, phantoms, wraiths, poltergeists, and apparitions.

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• Above Good and Evil: Doesn't think in terms of right and wrong.
• Combined Energy Attack: He can sacrifice large amounts of his ghosts to empower other ghosts, in order to force that ghost to inflict the agony of its death on his enemies.
• Intangibility: His main method of avoiding damage is to assume ghostly properties and become intangible.
• Killed Off for Real: He's killed by a mote during the Judgement arc.
• Magic Staff: His implement is a shepherd's crook that functions like this. He uses it to direct those spirits under his control so that rules that normally apply to them don't work as effectively.
• Psychopomp: His main job, the ferrying of ethereal beings. He claims the impressions left behind and should anyone else do the same he becomes immediately hostile towards them.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Gets called out by Blake for being too much of a coward to go get Evan when he needed someone and then having the audacity to be mad at him for it.
• The Silent Bob: Doesn't speak except during rituals in order to gain greater power.
• Villain Teleportation: He can manifest at a location by appearing out of ghosts, and when he's defeated, he fades away like one.
• Weaksauce Weakness: When he assumes ghostly properties, he's vulnerable to salt, like any ghost.
• Your Soul Is Mine!: He can do this to people that die in his vicinity.

The Sisters of the Torch

A group of elementalists, specifically pyromancers, led by the Elder Sister. They are seen as a somewhat weaker group because they aren't practitioners first, but family women who joined for the confidence boost and connections with others.

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• Dark Horse Victory: Despite being the newest and arguable weakest power in Toronto, they're the ones who take power after Conquest is taken out.
• Eye Spy: Utilizing flyers with eye-symbols they can spy on a number of areas.
• Neutral No Longer:
  • They decide to act by joining Isadora's coalition, in order to prevent Conquest from gaining the Thorburn knowledge.
  • Later on they are forced into the game on Conquest's side.
  • Rose finally forces them to help fight for the sake of Jacob's Bell.
• Marionette Master: They use Vessels, mannequins and life-sized dolls that have runes on them that move them towards a target depending on their actions, such as for every breath they take those with a breeze rune move half-a-step or the use of magic makes those with a water rune lunge. Theirs are specifically called Terracotta Soldiers.
• Playing with Fire: They specialize in fire magic.
• Ring of Power: The rings they forge as part of their pact into the sisterhood.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: They get called out by Evan because they actually could have done something to deal with the Abstract Demon but didn't, yet they criticize Blake's actions and see him as the main threat.

The Knights of the Basement

A group of dabblers. They used to be a larger organization before many of them were eaten by the demon Ur.

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• Magic Knight: They're better with guns than with the practice, though they prefer weapons and armour augmented with the practice.
• Master of None: They're dabblers with relatively little magical knowledge or power.

Blake's Friends

In General

Blake's friends from Toronto who aren't involved in his life in Jacob's Bell, all of them are rather close to him. During the Subordination Arc they get clued into the supernatural world and Alexis, Tiffany and Tyler become practitioners.

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• Amnesia Missed a Spot: After Blake's death they can feel something is off since they had more than a passing familiarity with him.
• Et Tu, Brute?: Duress 12.5 reveals that Alexis, Ty, and Tiffany all agreed not to inform Blake of his true nature.
• Mama Bear: How Blake describes Goosh.
• No Sense of Personal Space: Amanda, much to Blake's chagrin.
• Non-Action Guy: Joel, Goosh, and Joseph decide to work in a supporting role because they had other responsibilities or couldn't wrap their heads around it, such as Blackguards.
• Starving Artist: Most of them, excepting Blake and Joel.
• Straight Gay: Joel, Blake's landlord and friend.
• The Perfectionist: Joseph, who is the most successful of them because he's able to keep an eye on what his audience wants and execute it as perfectly as possible.
• True Companions: Have this relationship with Blake.
• Unwitting Muggle Friend: What they were to Blake after he Awakened. In the Subordination Arc he clued them into his circumstances.
• Wizards and Witches: Tyler, Alexis, and Tiffany decided to join in to support Blake, as well as their own interests.

Alexis

Blake's best friend, a 22 year old woman who saved his life while he was on the streets.

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• Came Back Wrong: Either the Abyss was screwing with Blake again by offering to bring her back, or she actually came back as a bogeyman or wraith afterwards.
• Chronic Hero Syndrome: She says when awakening that she wants to be one of the people that fixes things instead of breaking them.
• Cigarette of Anxiety: Smokes when nervous.
• Cooldown Hug: She gives one to Roxanne when she's waking up from a Limbo-induced nightmare.
• Disney Death: During the fight against Crone Mara she is seemingly killed, but it turns out to be an illusion caused by Mara and Corvidae.
• Disney Villain Death: Dies from falling off the top of a pillar in The Abyss after being swarmed by Others.
• Humans Are Flawed: She takes this viewpoint, referring to the group as "beautifully fucked up people," and expressing the view that life beats people down and does everyone permanent damage.
• Hypocrisy Nod: Alexis admits that she's a bit hypocritical as a chain-smoker who wants to make as few mistakes as possible.
• Killed Offscreen: In Possession 15.3, Blake notes that she is not among the survivors leaving the Library. She fell from the top of the pillar during the battle, after being swarmed by Others.
• Shipper on Deck: Ships herself and Blake with her friend Tiffany.
  I’m doing the relational equivalent of banging stones together until stuff works.
• Perpetual Frowner: Doesn't like smiling without cover, mainly because it shows her dentures.
• Polyamory: As mentioned above, she has no issues being involved with both Blake and Tiffany at the same time.

Tiffany

A part time student and splatter painting artist with a crush on Blake.

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• Abusive Parents: It's thought that her withdrawn nature is due to suffering abuse at home.
• Everyone Can See It: Her crush on Blake, including Blake himself, though he's not entirely sure if he reciprocates.
• The Fettered: Claims that she deliberately sets herself rules and standards that she does her best to hold to.
• I Just Want to Be Badass: Tiffany wants power in order to define herself, rather than be defined by others.
• Love at First Sight: She got smitten with Blake upon seeing his picture on Alexis' phone.
• Misery Poker: She calmly informs Ellie that the Thorburns don't have a monopoly on abusive families. Hers was worse.
• Nice Girl: Is nice enough that she even worries about Midge catching her death from cold despite her trying to murder them before.
• Opt Out: After dealing with The Eye, The Shepherd, and then Midge going rogue, she opts to remain safe and away from the conflict.
• Out-of-Character Moment: Suddenly swearing at Professor Isadora, given her nature. It's hinted to be the effect of Pauz's radiation on Blake when he was around her.
• Shrinking Violet: Is very shy normally.

Tyler

Another of Blake's friends, and an archetypical starving artist.

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• The Ace: Blake describes him as being pretty good at everything.
• Doing It for the Art: He habitually moves on to another type of art as soon as he starts to make money off of his current type. invoked
• Desperately Looking for a Purpose in Life: Tyler's main motivation, after having seen his twenty-years-older sister get worn down by life after doing everything "right," is to figure out where he needs to be.
• Evil Overlord List: Ty reads it, and abides by its precepts.
  Ty: Evan, back me up here. The rule for an evil genius is that you’ve got to have, like, an ordinary five year old kid to keep around and tell you your plan is idiotic.
  Evan: I'm not five.
  Blake: He's not ordinary.
  Evan: And Blake's not evil.
• Genre Savvy: Upon finding out about the karma system, he quickly realizes the implications:
  You’re telling me the universe encourages being the Bond villain?
• I Just Want to Be Special: Tyler's stated motivation for awakening is that he doesn't want to be a salaryman.
• Jumped at the Call: He's actually excited at the idea that everything terrible he could imagine is real.
• Nightmare Fetishist: One of his reasons for awakening was because he wanted to see if monsters and spooks were real. His reaction to seeing Isadora in full sphinx mode was that she's beautiful rather than terrifying, and he expressed an interest in meeting Green Eyes the mermaid bogeywoman.
• Odd Friendship: He and Evan get along great, despite the fact that he's in his twenties and Evan was eight when he died.
• Paper Talisman: Takes to using Ofuda and having spirits guide them to the targets.

Other Humans

Andy & Eva

A brother and sister witch hunter team, they serve as the Jacob's Bell council's hitmen when it comes dealing with Others and Practitioners.

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• Backto Back Badasses: Andy and Eva make one extremely fearsome, well-oiled team when they kick themselves into gear.
• Badass Normal: Eva especially is this — she can outfight a Faerie that glamors itself as a vampire in close quarters, and in Judgement even holds her own against a demon. Andy relies more on planning and traps, but is also an example. Together, they're a worry for most Others and practitioners.
• Berserk Button: For Eva, it's harming Andy, as Roxanne and Peter unfortunately learned.
• Beware the Quiet Ones: Andy is the quiet, polite, and reasonable one, but most of the characters are sensibly more scared of him than his more openly homicidal sister, and a brief section of his POV reveals that he fantasizes about blowing up the Jacob's Bell Council with a rocket launcher.
• Blood Knight: Eva is really into fighting when she gets going.
• Brains and Brawn: Andy's usually the brains, and Eva's mostly the brawn. But, if you think this means he can't pull the strong-arm act and she the tactical nouse, you deserve what you'll get.
• Brother–Sister Team: They work together. Oh, they might bicker about doing so, but that won't stop them making mincemeat out of you if you're a target.
• Cold Sniper: Andy executes one practitioner with a hunting rifle at one hundred fifty meters, and while he states he doesn't really like killing people that much, he reports only feeling pride for being able to make the shot.
• Combat Pragmatist:
  • Andy is described as this, since he lacks his sister's brawn. Eva herself also has no problem with tripping and stabbing in the back.
  • In one case of eliminating an enemy practitioner out for Jacob Bell's Lordship, they just use a car bomb to blow them up, and the help of Sandra and the Behaims to cover it up.
  • Faced with a bunch of enemy diabolists? Andy chooses to blast them at range with a rocket launcher without warning.
• Demolitions Expert: Andy hands out plastic explosives like it's candy. Then there's the claymores, incendiary grenades, flash bangs, and tear gas. He's strapped.
• Dissonant Serenity: When Molly kicks off the conflict in Gathered Pages 10, Andy just smiles and helps Mags to her feet while everyone runs, thinking about the day when he'll kill all the council practitioners with a rocket launcher for the betterment of the town. Though he eventually ends up using it on the lawyers instead.
• He Who Fights Monsters: Andy figures this is what happened to his sister, and is walking this road himself.
• Hitman with a Heart: Andy. Unlike his sister he doesn't like doing his role as a witch hunter and he'll feel bad about it. He'll still do it out of duty, but he'll feel for you. And this is to practitioners he's amicable about.
• Hunter of Monsters: As an occupation and a calling. They were trained by what appears to be a loosely held together Creature-Hunter Organization that provides them and other Canadian hunters with (illegal) weaponry.
• Improvised Weapon: Shower Rods make for a decent spear with Eva and a Grenade works as well as a bludgeon.
• Insanity Immunity: Eva managed to keep fighting against a Choir of Madness demon specifically because she's already partially insane and disordered.
• Katanas Are Just Better: Eva wields a katana. Apparently, she knows that they're not actually as effective as in the movies, but doesn't really care.
• Mage Killer: As witch hunters, their job is to deal with troublesome practitioners and Others, while lacking powers of their own. They're aided in this by the fact that as non-practitioners they can lie and break oaths without incurring karmic backlash, and can enter demesnes without being invited. They can also peer through certain protections because they aren't awakened.
• Morality Chain: More that Andy serves as this to Eva, although it goes both ways. He's the one who keeps her on a leash, but god help you if something happens to him and Eva is still around.
• Parental Abandonment: Of the both dead variety. At some point the two had to be saved by another witch hunter who had to Mercy Kill their parents.
• Parental Substitute: Mac, the witch hunter in question, served as this for Andy afterwards.
• The Promise: Andy made one with Mac, which is why he follows his obligations as a Witch Hunter to protect the people.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Andy is the blue to Eva's red, being more levelheaded while she's extremely trigger-happy.
• Trigger-Happy: Eva, who repeatedly pulls weapons on nonhostile practitioners just to scare them.
• Troll: Eva has threatened Blake and Maggie with no intention of actually harming them just for laughs.
• Would Hurt a Child: Eva beats the crap out of Roxanne Thorburn in Malfeasance 11.7 for stabbing Andy in the groin with a knife (he had a cup), including stomping on her head and kicking her while down. Andy has to drag Eva away to keep her from outright killing Roxanne. Mind you... this is Roxanne—Eva might have just recognized a kindred snake.

Joanna

Duncan's fiancee, who shares an apartment with him in Toronto. Unlike Duncan, she's not a practitioner.

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• Happily Married: Her and Duncan appear to have a fairly healthy relationship, though she finds his clocks rather quirky.
• Unwitting Muggle Friend: She's Duncan's unwitting fiancee.
• Nice Girl: Let Blake and company into her house and offers him hot chocolate after they helped her out without a second thought.
• One-Steve Limit: Averted. Shares a name with one of the first two Duchamp kids met in the story.

Mann, Levinn, and Lewis Firm

A demonic law firm staffed by practitioners who wish to get rid of substantial karmic debt.

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• Affably Evil: They are rather cordial to Blake. Ms. Lewis in particular was rather informative in teaching Blake how to deal with some threats and the driver admits to liking him as well because he's not as bad as the usual practitioners they deal with. That said, they still want him-or rather, the Thorburn heir-to eventually become part of the firm. Ms. Lewis also at least has the decency to refuse Blake in person due to Rose taking his place as heir instead of keeping him in the dark for all eternity.
• All-Powerful Bystander: Could easily handle Conquest, but unless Blake demands their help they won't show up. Blake, in turn, will never demand their help because he's Genre Savvy enough to know that it won't end well for him or anyone else.
• Amoral Attorney: What do you expect from people who have agreed to centuries of servitude to a demonic law firm and loss of previous identity in order to redeem their (presumably huge) karmic debts?
• Big Bad Duumvirate:
  • While they're initially helpful, the firm's partners turn out to be the true villains of the story. Rose Thorburn Sr.'s machinations, revolving around the creation of Blake and Rose Jr. while turning the entire town against her heirs, were initiated to get her family out of the grip of the lawyers by ending the line of Thorburn practitioners. Though content to remain in the background for most of the serial, the lawyers personally enter the fight for Lordship of Jacob's Bell once the Thorburns refuse to join, quickly eclipsing every other faction in threat.
  • The partners strike up an alliance with Barbatorem during the climax, aiding him in claiming Lordship over the town while they continue to try to claim Rose for their own purposes.
• Buried Alive: Rose does this to Ms. Lewis, burying her alive in the Abyss.
• Deal with the Devil: They facilitate these. Joining the firm is also one; you get freed from all karmic debt, but you have to spend hundreds of years working for the firm (which is no walk in the park) and your deal gives demonic entities a greater foothold on the world. The lawyers even ensure that diabolists remain in karmic debt so the remain desperate enough to consider the deal.
• Evil Lawyer Joke: When Blake and Rose need to bind an Other of some sort and also talk to Mann, Levinn and Lewis.
  Blake: Sounds like we’ve got some disturbing, soulless freaks of nature to summon. When we’ve done that, we can take a break and summon some ghosts.
• Demonic Possession: One lawyer fights by possessing himself with a demon from the Choir of the Feral.
• Faux Affably Evil: According to Rosalyn Thorburn, Lewis hides a lot of sadism under her polite mask, and is responsible for an event so bad reality would have to create another Black Death to rationalize it only a few years before the story started, which she enjoyed doing.
• Flunky Boss: Ms. Lewis summons five motes in quick succession to battle Rose and her allies.
• The Heavy: Of the firm's partners, Ms. Lewis is the most recurring and prominent, even serving as the Final Boss alongside the Barber.
• Implied Death Threat: Ms. Lewis informs Blake that if the firm gets the impression that he will never call on them, he'll lose their goodwill as they "hasten the process" of his death prophecy. It ends up coming true as they turn on Rose and her allies after she refuses to join the firm following the destruction of the library.
• Legacy Character: When you rank up through the firm, you can make partner and take on one of the names. But that means whoever had it earlier gets released early.
• Loss of Identity: When you join their firm you lose your previous identity and life.
• Made of Iron: Lewis tanks a few bullets, including one to the heart, before being able to summon her motes. They incapacitate her for a bit, but she's effectively immortal as long as she serves the firm.
• The Mole: An unnamed member of the firm turns out to be one for Rosalyn Thorburn.
• Occult Law Firm: Were once freelance diabolists, although now they are contractually obligated to use their (presumably prodigious) power only in the interest of the firm.
• An Offer You Can't Refuse: Histories 15 reveals that one method they have for recruiting people is saving practitioners from botched demon summonings in return for their souls not being taken.
• Really 700 Years Old: Immortality is part of the deal of joining the firm, and they don't need to eat or sleep.
• Villain Teleportation: They can be where they're needed, or invited.
• We Have Reserves: How Ms. Lewis uses her motes, ordering them in and replacing them as they are killed or banished. Rose notes that the Firm uses Ms. Lewis the same way, being able and willing to send in further lawyers if Rose manages more than a delaying action.
• Who Wants to Live Forever?: They are immortal and heal from almost any wound so long as they are in service. It's much, much less fun than it sounds.