MICAH
TWENTY-FIVE
The rage that filled my soul at the sight of what this evil son of a bitch had done was like nothing I had ever felt before.
Add in the fact that he was doing this to the woman I was pretty sure I was in love with, and it brought this to a whole other level.
After ignoring us, Parker, the fuckwit, let her see this horrific sight, and it sent her into shock—crying and shaking, unable to talk.
I knew that Lailah asked me to try, but that idiot just kept screwing up time after time, and I couldn’t stand it.
If he wanted to dick around with any other girl, that would be fine, but not this one—never this one.
Lailah was everything good and pure, and someone like me had no business even thinking I had a chance with her.
It was one reason I fought so hard against her, but now it was becoming clear what an utter ass I’d been about the whole thing.
“What do we know?” Jay asked, pulling me out of my thoughts and back to the matter at hand.
When we discovered what happened, Jay got on the phone with the Elementi right away, trying to make sure we intercepted the police.
There was an unwritten rule with law enforcement of all branches that if we claimed something, we would be allowed to handle it first and then pass it off to the appropriate people to deal with once we were done.
This murder would have gotten the attention of some of the bigger human intelligence branches, and we didn’t want to go ten rounds with them right now on who would take over.
“The only time he would have had to do this was during the countdown and the fireworks after,” Hudson answered, making notes on his phone. “The display lasted ten minutes, so he roughly had twenty by the time everyone left the room when it all started. That isn’t much time…”
“How could he have done all of this so quickly?” I wondered. “There is too much blood for this to have happened elsewhere.”
Jay started to look around the room, searching for something, then headed off to the left of the space. We followed him as he found a back door that had an alarm that would sound if you opened it without the key. Before we could stop him, he thrust the door open, and nothing happened.
“Son of a bitch must have cut the alarm off,” I snarled. “Hell, he could have changed himself to look like one of the staff.”
Walking out behind the event building, we found dumpsters and an open area for the band to unload their trailer. Using our phones for flashlights, we searched the space for any other clues.
“Guys…” Jay called. “I found who he pretended to be, or else it was someone who got in his way.”
Off in a dark corner, near a brick wall hiding this area from guests’ eyes, was a man crumpled in the corner with his throat slashed.
Jay squatted down and took a picture of the man’s face.
“Now at least we can figure out who this guy was and if he worked here or not. If he’s just another guest, that doesn’t help us much. ”
I watched Hudson flinch at Jay’s unemotional remark, but I understood what he was trying to say. When you’re chasing after a ghost who could be anyone, you needed all the information you could get. Heading back inside, I walked over to the team leader of the Elementi unit that showed up.
Looking at the man’s uniform, I saw the last name “Johansson” written on it. “There’s another dead body out back. Looks like another victim of our friend here,” I said, motioning to the back door.
Johansson nodded his head and grabbed his radio. “Blake, we need another body bag and removal from the back of the building. We’ll need to bring this one back to HQ as well.”
“Roger that.”
“Hey, you’re one of the Knights, right? Can I ask you something?” Johansson asked.
“You can ask, doesn’t mean I’ll answer,” I quipped, shrugging my shoulders.
Johansson blinked at me a moment, probably not expecting that type of answer, but it was one in the morning and I didn’t have a fuck to give.
“Did you know there was a chance someone might be killed tonight?” Johansson questioned. “Is that why you were at this party? Just doesn’t seem like the scene a kid like yourself would want to hang out at.”
“No, one of the others wanted to take our girlfriend, and the rest of us didn’t want to spend the night without her, so we came,” I snarked.
“Oh, and just so we’re clear, you have no idea what kind of scene you would find me at, and I’m no kid.
The shit I’ve seen would make you piss yourself.
It causes you to lose what innocence you have when the demon behind the curtain is a real thing to you,” I answered bluntly.
“Micah,” Hudson called. “Leave the man alone. We’re leaving.”
I turned to walk away, but Johansson grabbed my arm. “Listen here, you little shit, I fought in wars to keep this country safe before you were even born. Don’t look down on others who are able to give you a safe world to live in.”
The small thread holding my anger in check snapped.
I grabbed the man’s wrist and squeezed the joint, knowing if I kept going, I could break it easily.
“I hate to tell you this, but you’ve got it all wrong.
I’m the one who is keeping the world safe from the demons and their master who wants to destroy it just because they can.
So, when you lay there in your bed tonight thinking of the woman dead on the stage, just know that the only thing standing between you and the demon who did it is a team of six so-called kids.
” Tossing off his hold, I shoved past him, smirking as I heard him swear.
“Was that necessary?” Hudson sighed.
“Nope, but it sure felt good.” I grinned, clapping him on the back as we exited the event hall. “What’d I miss?”
Jay, who was already outside, handed me his phone, showing me a picture of a series of symbols burnt into the asphalt.
Since Mr. Creed and I got along so well, he’d decided to teach me far more than any of the others since he could stand to spend time with me.
Thanks to that extra education, I could pick out more than half of these and groan at their meaning.
“This fucker is good, I’ll give him that.
He was able to create an illusion of some kind and a circle of silence, which is why he got away with it in such a public place. ”
“So we need to start thinking of this man as more of a demonic warlock instead of a simple-minded demon,” Hudson theorized.
A harsh laugh burst out of me at his thought. “Yeah, this guy is anything but the average demon wanting to cause the usual kind of trouble.”
“I already sent them to Creed. He said he’ll be ready to give us a briefing on what he knows about Ubel and the symbols I sent him from the pond,” Jay interjected.
“Fuck, Lailah is gonna be pissed when she finds out we haven’t told her everything,” I grumbled. None of us wanted to ruin this night for her, but this asshole did it anyway.
“We’ll deal with that once we’ve gotten some sleep and we make sure telling her won’t send her into another spiral,” Hudson said as we got into the car Beth sent over for us.
“No.” Jay stated. “We need to tell her, no matter what. Others might keep secrets from their woman, but we will NOT.”
There was something in his tone that told me this was way more of a personal issue than it was about us not telling Lailah things, but I had to agree with him.
Nothing good ever came from keeping secrets, and the Elementi Warriors would always be asked to live up to a higher standard, following the creed the angels gave to the first five men all those centuries ago.
“Jay’s right. We tell her everything we know, then we teach her how to deal with it like they’ve taught all of us. Cookie Monster’s winter vacation is officially over, and Elementi boot camp is now in session.” I heaved a heavy sigh. “Get ready for the backlash, boys. It’s not gonna be pretty.”