Chapter 15
Chapter fifteen
He had no idea what he was walking into.
Dominic headed across the plaza toward the marble steps leading up to the Chicago Council’s headquarters, as he had done for the last ten years.
He half-expected a squad of Demon Control Authority officers to be lying in wait for him. Yet, no one paid him any mind. Other Council employees hurried up the steps. Local residents heading to the Claims department followed more slowly, their faces drawn in their usual shades of worry.
Dominic slowed when he approached the massive statue of Heracles. He stopped beneath it, staring directly up until it felt like the Greek hero had raised his enormous sword to strike down Dominic personally.
RFH. The Real Fuckin’ Hydra.
He stared at the statue without seeing it, lost in the memory of Max’s sightless eyes. Curling his hands into fists, he turned away, and marched up the stairs.
Dominic tensed again when he approached the doors, searching for the warding’s hole. Maybe Cooper had figured it out, and it was gone. Maybe he’d be watching from right inside as Dominic was forced to turn away, or risk exposure.
Yet, he felt the familiar give in the warding at the middle entrance. The security guard merely nodded and waved him through at the sight of his badge.
No pat downs, or eye scanners. He was already on his backup contact lenses. Bastian would readily order him new ones, but he couldn’t bring himself to ask.
Over the past day, the farce of his daily life had become unbearable.
His department had indeed called for an all hands meeting, in one of the larger meeting rooms on another floor. It resembled a college auditorium, with rows of seats and desks leading down to a podium.
“Psst.”
Cooper waved at him from one of the upper rows and beckoned him over with a smile, like they were old friends.
Dominic stared in disbelief.
The others were taking their seats around them. It wasn’t worth making a scene. The necessity of maintaining his cover had hamstrung him.
A fact he suspected Cooper was about to exploit to his advantage.
“Hey, partner.”
Cooper squirmed in his chair with palpable excitement when Dominic took the seat beside him. “That’s what we are now. Partners,” he added in a whisper. “You keeping my secret, me keeping yours. Two demons, locked together in a stalemate. Like a binary star system.” He grinned.
Dominic glanced away in disgust.
Mira had been right: air demons were chatty, and annoyingly cheerful. A feigned cheeriness, wielded as a weapon.
“However,” Cooper continued, leaning over, “I have a feeling this will be far more fun for me than it will be for you.”
“Cooper. Dominic.”
They both stood immediately when the department head called on them from the podium.
“Thank you for your diligence in pursuing this case. Especially you, Dominic. I know you’ve devoted quite a bit of time to your investigation. However, this is now an inter-agency collaboration. Assemble your final reports, and submit them by day’s end.”
“Yes, sir,” they acknowledged, and sat once more.
The department head launched into a debrief, opening with a slide show of the protest at Le Prestige. A collage of faces appeared, with one in the center, above the rest.
Max.
Cooper chortled beside him. “Nice touch, right? A perfect martyr.”
Dominic ground his teeth as his jaw trembled with fury. He opened his small notebook and began to jot down useless notes, if only to keep from bashing Cooper’s face in.
With his calculations, he could get in two to three good hits before Cooper recovered enough to take control of his body. Or, just one good one, if he managed to knock him out cold.
Cooper lifted his finger, and Dominic’s arm froze. He watched in dismay as his arm began to curve back toward his own body.
“Wanna know a secret? The old generation can’t control smoke demons like this anymore.”
He grinned when Dominic blinked at him in shock. “They turned their nose up at the skill for so many generations that they simply forgot how. Then us… middle class, lowborn air demons reclaimed it. And now, they have to rely on us for the dirty work.”
Grimacing, Dominic trembled with his effort to resist as the tip of his pen pushed toward his chest.
“Just one little wound,” Cooper said softly. “When all that glittery demon blood spills out, everyone will know. But, we don’t want the Council demon-testing all employees, do we?”
Dominic glanced up, his eyes darting around the auditorium, but the others were still focused on the debrief.
Cooper studied him curiously. “How did you do it? Where’s the stench of your smoke demon scent? Or your demon eyes?” He leaned forward again. “Why aren’t the city’s wardings frying you like bacon? This is actually quite sophisticated. What’s your secret?”
“What’s yours?” Dominic shot back, between his teeth.
The others began to rise around them as the debrief ended. The tension disappeared in Dominic’s arm.
He stood immediately, and strode away without a word. It was the last time he’d ever be in this building, he realized.
When he saw Cooper again, one of them would have to die.
“How about lunch?” Cooper called after him. “Ah, wait— we’re both on report duty. Sushi and sake tomorrow night, maybe?”