“It’s implied. We are unfortunately used to being considered animals and treated as such.”
At that, Anil stood, and Spencer had a feeling the conversation was over. Anil gestured at the door. “Your warning is appreciated, even if your lack of action at the gala is not. Whatever your case is, if it’s against the Cascade Coven, we won’t get in the way of that. You’ll hear from our attorney once we hear from the PCB.”
Spencer got to his feet and gave them all a friendly nod as he pulled out his wallet. He offered Mallory his business card, the SOA agency seal embossed on the crisp white card stock. Spencer hoped they kept their word about notifying him if the PCB came knocking. “Thank you for meeting with me.”
Makai wordlessly escorted him and Fatima out of the home. Spencer could feel the other man’s eyes boring into his back as he walked away, but he didn’t let it bother him. He had other things to worry about because the field team and Legal weren’t going to be happy about the wrench the Seattle god pack was about to throw into their case.
CHAPTERSEVEN
Spencer drove backto the hotel amidst early evening traffic, twilight settling over the city as the glow of sunset faded in the west. His meeting with Mallory and Anil had happened late enough in the day there wasn’t any point in returning to the office and continuing to work there. Besides, the conversation he needed to have next wasn’t one he wanted to have surrounded by other agents.
By the time he handed the keys to the valet, it was late enough for dinner. Fatima didn’t want room service again, so he ordered delivery on an app from a place that looked like it did decent hamburgers and fries. He paid a little extra to have it delivered quicker.
“It’ll be here in thirty minutes or so if the app doesn’t lie,” Spencer said.
Fatima flirted her tail tip at him in acknowledgment before hopping up on the double bed and stretching out over the end.I want to watch television.
Spencer picked up the remote and spent the next couple of minutes scrolling through the listings for her as she picked what show she wanted to watch. Fatima could move through the veil at will and guide souls to their final resting place, but her paws were too large to successfully work a remote. He left her watching a sitcom, volume turned down low enough that Spencer could easily ignore it as he made a phone call after writing a silence ward on the nightstand.
It was late on the East Coast, but not late enough that Patrick was asleep. Wherever he was though, it was loud, the sound of music a crackle of background noise when Patrick answered.
“Dead Boy,” Patrick drawled, using the field name Spencer had been given while in the Mage Corps. He hadn’t chosen it, but then, no one ever really did. Such monikers were given by fellow soldiers in the field. Spencer had earned his by dint of his kind of magic.
“Razzle Dazzle,” Spencer shot back as he sat down on the bed and leaned up against the pillows. He angled his feet off the side so his shoes didn’t get the bleached white blanket dirty.
“Heard Nadine saw you in DC.”
“Yeah, we caught up.”
“Something tells me you’re not calling to do the same.”
“Not really. Can you get somewhere secure?”
Patrick paused, distant music filtering through the speaker. “Yeah, give me a minute.”
Spencer listened as Patrick spoke to someone on his side of the line, the words muffled. He waited patiently until the sound abruptly cut out with the suddenness that spoke of a silence ward being activated rather than a dropped line.
“All right, line and location are now secure,” Patrick said.
“Hope I didn’t catch you at a bad time.”
“I’m at Tempest, and it’s a slow night. No one needs me to mediate anything so far, and Jono can handle the bar without me. What has you calling?”
Spencer scratched at his jaw. “Wondering if the case I got assigned might be something I’d need to call you in for as a consultant.”
“Priya would hate that. I’m expensive.” Spencer could hear the smile in the other man’s voice. “Put in the paperwork after the call if you need to. She’ll sign off on it. She always does. We’ll consider this conversation a freebie since it’s your first case.”
“I’m not green at this.”
“Never said you were. What’s going on?”
“The SOA has me hunting down missing artifacts stolen from the Repository. Current case revolves around the Ouroboros Mirror. Archival researchers believe it’s used to summon demons and possess people. Some socialite head of a coven in Seattle might have bought it off the black market.”
“Not sure how I can help with that. Possession is your area of expertise.”
“Yeah, well, the werecreature community and god packs are yours. I infiltrated a gala last Friday night. Two possessed werecreatures attacked the party and killed a couple of guests. A vampire ended up killing the werecreatures, and the demons fled their hosts.”
“What?” Patrick asked, voice gone flat and hard.
