I grabbed my phone and called Bram. He picked up on the second ring.
“Slater, is everything okay?” His voice was alert.
“Yeah,” I said, spinning once in my chair as Snakey slithered about the table. “Did you hear about the drude that died in his sleep last night? While feeding?”
He let out a low breath. “Yeah. I heard. It fucked Reed up a bit. That’s how his dad died, remember? Feeding and never waking up.”
I scrubbed a hand over my face. “Right. Well, if it makes him feel any better, his dad did nothing wrong. But this drude? He had been tormenting my mate for months, and she finally killed him.”
Bram exhaled again, but this time it was relief.
“Well, that will actually make him feel a hell of a lot better,” Bram said.
“Good. Rune didn’t just kill some random demon trying to feed. She took out someone who deserved it.” I clicked another window up onto my screen and scanned the report again, connecting the details. “Listen, the death was reported by his brother. They’re estranged, apparently, but the only reason he went to check on him was because their mom is sick. The brother, the dead one, was taking jobs on the side. Paid dream-torture. Evidently, humans were involved.”
“Humans,” Bram repeated, disgust bleeding into the word. “Of course.”
“Yeah.” I snorted. “I traced some payments attached to the demon’s account. He’s been getting big transfers routed in from the Human Territory. I need to know who hired him and why.”
There was a pause.
“I can set up a meeting for you with the brother. I know he and the drude were estranged, but the mom’s apparently bad off. He doesn’t want more trouble in the family.”
“Dude, that would be amazing,” I said, already snatching my bag from beside the desk and shoving tablets and notes inside. “You’re the best brother ever.”
He huffed a laugh. “You’re sentimental. Meet you at the Demon Council’s HQ in an hour, well, the second Supernatural Council HQ now, technically.”
“Yeah, yeah. I’ll be there. Not in an hour, though. Make it thirty minutes.”
“Slater, that’s?—”
“Love you, bye,” I cut in, hanging up before he could argue. I immediately pulled up another contact on my phone and hit call.
Jesper answered on the first ring. “What’s wrong?”
“Can you get us a mission stamped by Sabine to talk to the family of the dead drude?” I asked. “I’ve got the report and the contact trail already. I need it official enough that we won’t get in trouble for doing this on our own.”
“How do you already have that?” he asked. “I’ve been waiting for the report all day from Corin.”
I squinted at my screen. “Because I hacked into the Demon Capital death database?”
A long breath hissed through the line. “Of course you did.”
“Look, this is important,” I reminded him. “This is the drude that was haunting Rune’s dreams. It has to be. Rune killed him last night. The demon’s death registry just confirmed the death. The time and place line up, and so does everything else I found out about him. We might be able to connect him directly to the Human Resistance Network through his brother.”
On Jesper’s end, paper rustled. “I’ll call Sabine. Rune’s here with me, anyway. Meet us at the wayfaer teleporter in HQ.”
“On it,” I said, already on my feet, leaving the meeting room behind.
HQ’s corridors were quieter in the early morning. There were muted footsteps, low conversation, and the buzz of enchantments in the walls. My head throbbed from the lack of sleep, but adrenaline kept me awake.
I paced the edge of the teleporter until I heard Rune’s laugh echo faintly down the hall. A few seconds later, she and Jesper came into view.
Rune’s green hair was pulled up in a messy knot, with dark circles under her eyes, but her gaze was clear and focused. When she saw me, she smiled.
My heart skipped a beat.
I still couldn’t believe she wasmine.Actually, I could. I was just really fucking happy about it.
