Chapter 6 Rune #2
“No,” Dimitri muttered, “gargoyles do not.”
Kraig’s lips were totally blue, and his skin was ashen by the time his heart stopped beating.
The simulation ended around us, and Jarvins and Drecken walked over.
“He died after eating a muffin,” Jarvins told him.
Drecken’s magic popped around Kraig before his blue eyes lit up with interest. “Oh, Fates, he’s human.”
Silence fell over all of us.
“Definitely human,” Seth muttered, staring just above the body.
“Wasn’t he a gargoyle?” Mara asked with confusion.
“Has anyone here seen him shift?” Drecken’s magic faded from Kraig, and he flicked his fingers as little pops came off them.
“No,” Jarvins said in shock. “But not all supernaturals use their powers constantly.”
Drecken smiled at me before his gaze turned concerned. “I’ll be taking Rune with me. How’d she do on her assignment, pass?”
Jarvins's beady eyes met mine. “Unable to hide her aura and almost blew her cover over jealousy. Thankfully, another agent saved her.”
I rubbed at the agony vibrating in my chest again. “It won’t happen again. I think something’s wrong. My chest hurts.”
Dimitri’s eyes were locked on me, even as Brynn tugged on his sleeve to get his attention.
“I’ll check you over,” Drecken whispered, teleporting us both and Kraig’s dead body into the Supernatural Headquarter’s lab.
“I’ve been looking for you,” Ted stated as he flicked from corporeal to faded form, his arms crossed. He glanced between the dead human, Drecken, and me. “But perhaps another time?”
“We found a dead human posing as a gargoyle.” Drecken shrugged, using magic to move the dead human onto a metal workbench. “Rune’s chest was hurting, so I wanted to check on her personally. That’s why she’s here.”
My face flushed hot as Ted looked at me with a raised brow. Ted Wraithmore was the phantom representative on the Supernatural Council and a friend of Mom’s. He’d watched me grow. Somehow, I felt like he was giving me a disappointed uncle look.
“Right,” Ted muttered with a nod. “My granddaughter is a hybrid.”
“Oh, Fates.” Drecken let out a steady breath, interest sparkling in his blue eyes. “Tell me more. I don’t mind examining her magic if you think she’s a hybrid.”
“Yes, I would like you to,” Ted told him. “I don’t think. I know. She’s only sixteen, but her father, my son, is a phantom. Her mother’s a banshee. She’s both.”
“That is improbable,” Drecken muttered, magic bursting off him in firework-like bursts. “I must meet this girl.”
“Give it two more years until she’s eighteen. Then, you can, but she’s homeschooled now. Nobody knows she exists. I didn’t even know,” he said sadly.
“I’ll research this,” Drecken assured him. “I’ve never heard of a hybrid before, but that doesn’t mean there are no records.”
“Thank you.” Ted nodded before glancing at me. “Are you okay, Rune?”
I nodded. “I’m fine.”
Drecken snapped his fingers, and a man in a lab coat appeared before him.
He held his stomach and dry-heaved. “Damn it, Drecken. Please stop doing that. I have a weak stomach.”
“Prep this human body for dissection for me,” he told him.
“Human body?” The man’s brows furrowed before he looked at the body. “Okay.”
“Why does your chest hurt?” Drecken turned back to me and looked me over with his blue gaze, his hand pressing against my sternum before pausing. His cheeks turned pink as he let his hand, which had been wedged between my boobs, fall. “My apologies.”
“It’s okay,” I assured him, rubbing my chest where he’d pressed. “I honestly was just jealous of some woman getting close to Dimitri.”
“The vampire?” He frowned. “You’re jealous?”
I nodded. “It’s an anguish in my chest every time I see him around her. I know she likes him. I don’t like it.”
“I have felt something similar. Like a twinge between my ribs when I see you with Slater and Zuko. In particular, when I teleported in on Slater inside of you,” he muttered, rubbing his own chest.
The man prepping Kraig’s dead body paused and stared at Drecken for a moment before busying himself again.
Thank the Fates Ted had left already.
My entire face heated, but I nodded. “I just don’t understand. Slater thinks we’re all mates…even you.”
An explosive burst popped from his chest. “Perhaps, viperling. Would you like to stay for the dissection?”
I nodded. “Yes, I would.”
“It’s ready,” the man said before scurrying off.
The human body lay stretched across the workbench, pale under the bright lights above it.
A faint shimmer of wards hummed over the dissecting table, keeping the reek of blood contained.
I hadn’t even noticed that the wards had been there.
I’d thought Drecken just tossed the body on a random workbench, but he knew exactly what he’d been doing.
Drecken’s hands moved with practiced precision, scalpel glinting silver as he used his magic to guide it. He peeled back layers of skin and muscle.
I kept my own hands steady, though I had little to do since Drecken’s magic handled most of it.
“Look at this.” Drecken’s voice was low and clinical.
He lifted a vial of the human’s blood into the light. Threads of darker reds swirled against bright red, dividing like oil and water. “Normal human blood doesn’t do that.”
“It’s separating,” I murmured, leaning closer.
His eyes flicked to me with raw interest. “Spliced. Something human, something not. This isn’t natural.”
I swallowed. “Supernatural DNA?”
He hummed, pressing the scalpel deeper with his telekinesis, parting the cartilage at the sternum.
The crack echoed in the lab.
Drecken’s expression never changed as he cracked the bone open with his magic until the chest cavity opened. A small black device, no bigger than a coin, was fused to the sternum with hooked wires. It pulsed faintly, like a second artificial heart.
“What the Fates is that?” I tilted my head in confusion. I wasn’t well-versed in human anatomy, but I knew it was pretty much the same as ours.
Drecken snapped his fingers and drew it out, placing it carefully onto a steel tray.
The pulse inside it dimmed, but it didn’t die.
He muttered a spell and tapped the casing with his nail. The device hissed open. It released a plume of raw magical essence that smelled of granite and dust, like old stone.
“Gargoyle essence.” His eyes widened. “They’re binding supernatural essence into human vessels. I need to look at the blood under a microscope.”
Before I could answer, the door slammed open.
“Rune!” My mom’s voice cracked like thunder through the lab as she strode in. “What in the Fates’ name are you doing in here?”
“We—”
“She’s assisting me,” Drecken interrupted smoothly. “This human isn’t entirely human.”
Mom’s gaze snapped to him, then to the body, then to the device still pulsing on the tray. Her breath caught. “What have you found?”
Drecken gave the report with the same detached clarity he’d used when dissecting Kraig.
“The blood looks to be grafted DNA, but I need to make sure. And this,” he gestured to the device, “contains condensed gargoyle magical essence. Unethically harnessed, I’m sure, and implanted into the chest cavity.
It explains the magical essence we sensed from him.
Though, this spy cannot be an ordinary infiltrator. ”
For a long moment, Mom said nothing. Then, she exhaled sharply, straightening her shoulders. “Drecken, you’re officially pulled into emergency research on this matter. Full clearance. As of now.”
His jaw flexed, but he only inclined his head. “As if I don’t already have full clearance.”
“You know what I mean.” Her gaze turned back to me. “You come with me. Now.”
I reached out and met Drecken’s fingers briefly. “See you later.”
“Yes, I will see you later.” He smiled softly at me. “I will look for a solution to the jealousy, for both our sakes.”
I blushed. “Thanks.”
The corridor outside the lab was cooler, quieter, but I could sense Mom’s irritation.
She didn’t speak until the door to the lab sealed behind us, then she turned sharply to me with her hands on her hips. “Rune Bloodwyne, what in the Fates is going on with you and Drecken?”
My mouth went dry. “We were dissecting—”
“Not that.” Her eyes narrowed. “You know what I mean.”
Heat flooded my cheeks. “I…kissed him.”
Her jaw dropped. She actually staggered back a step, pale. “You—you kissed Drecken? Drecken Grimsworn? The freaking warlock representative on the Supernatural Council?”
I nodded once. “The very same.”
Mom pressed a hand to her forehead, as though fighting dizziness. “Rune, he’sss older than I am. He’sss older than both of your dadsss. Do you understand what you’re doing?”
“I know.” My voice cracked, but I held her gaze. “I know how old he is. I know it’s insane. But it happened. And I…” I trailed off, words tangling in my throat. “I like him.”
Her dull green eyes softened, just a fraction, worry cutting through her outrage. “Oh, Fates preserve me. My daughter and Drecken of all supernaturals.”
“I didn’t mean for it to happen, but I don’t regret it.” I bit my lip. “Mom, he’s actually super sweet.”
Mom let out a long, shaky breath. “He’s also the most powerful warlock in the entire world who, until you, never had time for anything other than magical research.”
I shrugged. “Maybe it’s in the Fates’ grand design.”
“The grand design you need to focus on is getting through your agent training,” Mom retorted. “Then, you can focus on the fate of the world, okay?”
“Okay.” I smiled at her, and her expression softened completely.
“I just don’t want you to be hurt again,” she whispered. “After Darian—”
“Drecken is nothing like Darian, Mom.” I couldn’t help the giggle that burst out of me.
“That’s very true.” She smiled back at me. “Fine. Just…warn me next time?”
“I’m also into Jesper,” I informed her with a smile.
“Aren’t you also dating Bram’s brother and Skarnax’s son?” Mom’s eyes widened.
“Hey, to be fair, you mated both Dad and Pops.” I crossed my arms.
“I only mated two,” she mumbled, blushing. “My daughter’s numbers are climbing.”
“And there’s nothing wrong with that,” I defended myself as we made our way to the wayfaer crystal in her office so she could teleport me back to the academy.