I turned my head to Bram, the head of all Vampires, glaring at me. Nods from across the table confirmed many others were wondering the same thing. I took in his neatly trimmed eyebrows so I wouldn’t look the Vampire in the eye.
“I’m sorry to be the one to break it to all of you, but Pan was one of the victims in the Demon Faction,” I said, as my eyes began watering. I would not cry here. “I am here because Samael is working on securing the faction.”
“Probably fucking high,” Athena muttered.
I snorted, then focused my attention back on Bram.
“How do you know there are traitors in our midst?” asked the leader of the Shifters.
“I never spoke with any traitors to my knowledge, but I wasa spy in Hell. I overheard people talking about the rumors circulating. I suspect if there were any traitors in the Demon Faction of thePax, they would be reporting directly to him, or to someone he trusted more than me,” I returned as calmly as I could, considering the circumstances.
“I’m sorry, I recognize most at this table. I don’t believe I know you or a few others by face,” I said to the being who just questioned me, grimacing in what I hoped came off as an apology, but likely came across as derisive and cruel. I didn’t like being questioned.
“I’m Gon. I am the leader of the Shifter Faction and have been since the beginning. I don’t mean to be crass, but you’re new here. Why are you at this meeting instead of someone else?” he asked, sitting back in his chair with his legs crossed and hands clasped in front of him, elbows on the arms of the chair.
“Well, Gon, I’m sorry for your loss. I’m also sorry for my untimely arrival here.However, I can promise you that it wasn’t intentional. I submitted my papers, and was approved, to come here two years ago. Unfortunately, I was denied the privilege of leaving the Demon Realm until my contract was fulfilled to sufficiently train my replacement. That was approved two days ago. As for why I’m here at this table, I’ve known Pan and Samael since well before thePaxwas established. Sam was preoccupied, and I was the only person available,” I replied.
“I can also attest to her strength in character. I have spent the last couple days being rescued by Vada. You know my word, and you know I’m not quick to trust anyone. In the last forty-eight hours or so, Vada has gained a little of my trust,” Adaela stated, and I preened inside a bit.
Gon glanced at her, then over to Bram, Athena, Maren, and Poe before settling his eyes back on me. “I’ll take your word forit, Adaela. I saw your application, Vada, and I believe I can trust you. I was just curious why you were in this meeting, is all.”
I nodded at Adaela as I worked my way through trying to come up with solutions to the problem at hand. “I’d be happy to talk to you at greater length about what it means to me to be here, Gon, but that will have to be at a later time.”
Gon nodded, and we left that topic behind as we settled in to figure out what the fuck had happened today.
March 19th
“So, what are our next steps? We need to help the families bury their dead in whichever tradition their faction dictates,” I said to distract myself. I could think about Vada later.
“Perhaps we need to check the facts,” Hecate said thoughtfully. “The Fates cannot see what is happening, and every faction was targeted, so this was a declaration outside of thePax.We have no known suspects currently. Perhaps there is a traitor somewhere in our midst, but we don’t know who that would be.”
“I will contact a necromancer to resurrect a few of our fallen to see if we can gather more firsthand accounts,” Bram stated.
Athena bent over in laughter, breaking some of the tension gathering in the room. My lips twitched, but I tried to hold it together. A Vampire contacting a necromancer was unheard of. They were natural enemies. The Human lore behind magical beings, before they knew we really existed, always portrayed Vampires and Shifters as natural enemies, but that wasn’t true. A Vampire’s enemy would always be the necromancer.
“We could, I suppose. But those who have died violentdeaths are usually unable to recount their deaths, and it would take at least three days before we’d be able to try that route. We need solutions now,” Athena replied. “I suggest we start with the guards who were on shift today. We need to understand why we had vulnerabilities in each faction.”
“You have to get this out of here before anyone figures out what set the alarm off,”
“—you fucking idiot. You’re going to ruin the entire plan before it even begins.”
“Fuck man, I’m just following orders. I’m leaving now. This isn’t going to go over well. He’s?—”
Setting my elbows on the table, my hands rubbing at the stiffness in the back of my neck, I recounted what I’d heard when I got back to the Unseelie Faction. What I would do right now for a massage was probably illegal across the globe.
“I know this is an obvious question, but has anyone checked security footage?” Mia, the human liaison asked.
“We have people on that,” I replied, “but magic and hackers often make cameras inoperable, especially if a portal was opened.”
“So we’re searching for someone who has strong enough magic to open a portal, or multiple portals at once. There aren’t many who can do that,” Vada stated, tapping her short nails against the tabletop.
There might’ve been five or six creatures in all the realms combined who had strong enough powers to open multiple portals at once, and more than half of them were members of thePax.
“Has anyone been able to determine the time of death for those who have fallen?” I asked.
Everyone at the table either grabbed their phones to textsomeone and ask, or their eyes went distant as they telepathically asked their advisers.
“I think this should be the first step we take. We need to determine the times of death and compare notes. We know at minimum, two people were involved, though it’s difficult to say if one of them had portal magic or if they were working with someone else who did.” Ma’at’s direct nature cut through the bullshit.
