Chapter 19
Chapter
Nineteen
Adrenaline surges through me, and I quickly go over my options. I’m not familiar with the area, I have no weapons, and I’m vastly outnumbered.
“This is my house and she is my guest” Delphi interjects, standing in front of me. “I asked her to come. She has information about the drugs and wants to help.”
“Are you here to confess that your husband is behind this?” A woman with short gray hair gets to her feet. Her eyes are red as if she’s been crying. “My grandson is dead because of you!” She lets out a low growl and several other wolves join in.
“Quiet!” Larkin says, eyes flashing yellow. “I want justice as much as any of you, but we have to take down the right culprit.”
“You’re saying it’s not the vampires?” another wolf asks.
“It’s not,” I say, and apprehensively take a few steps forward.
Staying by the door gives me a clear shot at an emergency exit.
“Not the Malus vampires at least. Delphi told me a vampire sold the drugs to your kids, and I’m so sorry for what happened.
No parent should have to lose a child. But can I tell you with absolute certainty that Xavier is not bringing drugs into the city. ”
“You said she’s here to help,” another wolf shouts. “How the fuck is this helping?”
“Because I might know who’s behind this,” I say.
“Or at least I’ve found a strange connection.
” The energy is still dark and heavy and full of grief.
Their anger is palpable and justified. Two kids died of overdoses because the drugs were laced with carfentanil.
They never stood a chance once that entered their system.
“Are you going to fucking tell us?” the same wolf shouts.
“If you take it down a notch, I will,” I quip and he growls in response. Once he settles down, I take a few more steps inside. “You’ve probably seen the news reporting an increase in overdoses in the city.”
“We have,” Larkin answers for the pack.
“That is true, the drugs are being laced with deadly ingredients and they’re being made more widely available. But half of these deaths aren't because of overdoses. The people did have some drugs in their system when they died, but they died because of demonic possession.”
No one talks for several seconds.
“Demons?” the crying woman echoes.
“Yes,” I tell her. “A human body can’t handle demonic possession for long before it starts to break down.
The demon is quite literally burning up their body from the inside out.
Death from demonic possession doesn’t make medical sense.
The victims can appear to have aged rapidly while they’ve rotted from the inside out.
I think demons are doing something—I don’t know what—and are using drugs as a coverup for burning through bodies.
Most of the victims have been homeless, people others usually don’t even give a second thought to.
They don’t have the family to demand their deaths be looked into further, so blaming it on drugs is an easy way out. ”
The room goes quiet again and this time, hearing my own words spoken out loud sends a chill through me.
It’s an almost perfect coverup, really. Demons are coming here from hell, using people as vessels to do god knows what.
It would be obvious to hunters if reports of mysterious deaths started piling up.
Having the deaths marked as overdoses doesn’t raise as many eyebrows.
Still…if the Order is somehow involved, then why did Antonio hear someone say something?
Was it just so they could shift the blame to the Malus family?
I inhale and push my shoulders back, needing to keep my cool.
This could very well be a much bigger—and scarier—situation than I realized.
I can’t tell them that the Order could be deeply involved.
I don’t know for sure yet, and if they are, keeping the info close to the chest to blindside them with later might be necessary.
“Demons are dealing drugs,” another wolf states, but I hear the question in her voice.
“If that’s true, how the hell is some witch going to help with that?” the snarky wolf asks.
“This some witch is full of surprises,” Larkin says. “She just happens to have the highest kill count in the Order.”
Silence falls over the table.
“The Order?” one of the older wolves questions. He has a thick southern accent and shakes his head when he looks at me. “There’s no way the Order allowed a witch to join.”
“I didn’t join by choice,” I say, my heart still beating too fast for my liking.
The balance between peace and chaos is hanging precariously right now.
“I was kidnapped, for lack of a better term, by demon hunters when I was a baby and raised in the Order. Once they realized I was a witch, they exploited my powers and tried to make me their little super soldier. They ran experiments on me too, trying to see if they could replicate my powers so they could have their own army of magical hunters. It didn’t work. ”
An older man who’s been quiet this whole time raises his hand to let everyone know he’s going to speak.
“My son is a Charlotte police officer,” he starts.
Delphi did mention they have people in the CPD.
“He’s mentioned how there’s been chatter at the station around these weird deaths.
We as werewolves know there are things out there that cannot be explained—”
“—and shouldn’t be messed with,” someone adds.
“But where you’ve lost me,” the older man continues, “is why? What sense does it make for demons to deal drugs? How does that benefit them?”
“I think you are all going about this too…uh…politically,” I say carefully.
“Demons aren’t going to benefit in terms of profit or territory the same way humans would.
The drugs are a cover.” I stop there for a second.
Someone is behind the increase of drugs in the city, and it probably is a human or supernatural creature like vampires or werewolves.
My money is on humans, as the drug cartel has been a human issue for centuries.
“Whatever these demons are up to…that’s the issue. That’s the threat.”
“So you’re saying the demons were hoping to possess anyone who was high?” Delphi asks. She’s leaning against the island counter, brows furrowed.
“Yes,” I say with a nod. “There’s no way every single person out on the street doing drugs is going to end up possessed, but demons have found a vulnerable group of people to take over.
Unless the demon has a bit of power, possession can be resisted.
You have a hard time resisting something when your body is, well, weak. ”
“So being on drugs is, uh, knocking out two birds with one stone,” Delphi says and I nod. Larkin has been rather quiet since I’ve gotten here, but it’s not from lack of authority. No, it’s because she’s letting her people talk and showing that she’s listening.
“Yeah. That’s exactly it.”
“Why should we believe you?” the older man asks, slowly shaking his head. “Of course you’d be here defending your husband.” He makes a face when he says the word husband. Yeah, I get it. Being married to the most powerful vampire around is still a mindfuck for me some days.
“For one, I’m telling the truth,” I press.
“And two, if you go after Xavier, it won’t change anything.
That’s what you want, right? You want vengeance on whoever is responsible for this.
You won’t get it if you go after the wrong person.
And I have proof. Not with me, but, um, I can show you the files from the medical examiner.
You can read the reports yourself and then come to your own conclusions, but you’ll see exactly what I do.
Unnatural deaths caused by demonic forces. ”
“How quickly can you get me this evidence?” Larkin asks.
“I have the physical files in my possession at home,” I tell her. “So soonish.” I shrug.
Larkin just nods, studying me. “What do you have to say about the allegation that a vampire sold drugs to our teenagers?”
“I suppose it could be true. And if it is, Xavier will find the responsible party and punish them as he sees fit. Selling drugs to children is something I am not okay with.”
Another wolf scoffs. “Like Xavier fucking Malus gives a shit about what anyone thinks.”
“I am his wife,” I say with authority. “He wouldn’t have married me if he didn’t value my opinion and trust that I am a competent and equal partner.” Forcing a smile, I hope I didn’t overdo it with the “equal” part.
The room falls silent for a few seconds and then everyone starts talking at once. Delphi puts her hand on my arm and motions with her head for me to come with her into the little library sitting area next to her foyer.
“That went better than I thought,” she says.
“Really? They don’t seem convinced.”
“They’re hurting. Marilyn lost a grandson today. A life for a life doesn’t bring them back, but a fight is a distraction from the pain. That’s what they really want.”
“That makes sense,” I tell her, knowing that feeling all too well.
“I grew up in the area and went to med school in New York, but I have family in the mountains. I’ve heard the stories about dark entities in the woods that not even us werewolves dare to cross. How are you going to fight these demons?”
“Lower level demons like the ones possessing the bodies, are just the tip of the iceberg. They’re working for a much more powerful demon and they’re up to something. Whatever it is, it’s not good.”
“What do demons want?”
My eyes widen. “Chaos. Destruction. To bring hell to earth and rid humans of our souls.”
“Oh. I thought you might say like cocaine and hookers.”
I laugh. “Some demons might enjoy that before sucking the souls out of children.”
“So you find the Big Boss and then what?”
“Figure out how to kill it.”
Delphi bites her lip and exhales. “It’s definitely not going to be that easy.”
“No, not at all.” I shake my head. “And it will be even harder if I’m also dealing with a battle between werewolves and vampires.”
“I think we have enough to work with. At least to buy some time.”
“Good. Uh…so…now what?”
“The pack will talk and then cast a vote, but ultimately it’s up to our alpha.”
“Okay,” I say with a heavy sigh and notice Larkin looking at the bite mark on my neck. “It’s a long story,” I offer.
She raises her eyebrows. “I can prescribe you an antibiotic for that.”
“I’m fine.”
“It looks nasty and painful.”
I shrug. “It’s not fun, but I’ve had worse.”
Looking like she’s quite literally biting her tongue, she turns away but then trains her eyes right back. “I always assumed a vampire like Xavier wouldn’t, uh, tear your flesh.”
“It wasn’t him.” My words come out quickly and I shake my head.
“Oh damn. I’d hate to be the vampire who did that then.”
“Yeah.” I cross my arms and look back at the table.
The wolves are speaking in low voices, but the energy in the room has changed and is slightly less threatening.
Larkin looks up and meets Delphi’s eyes.
An unspoken message is said between them and Delphi waves her hand in a gesture for me to follow her back in.
“Hey, y’all,” she starts. “Wren explained that the demons possessing people are basically lemmings who are working for a more powerful demon.”
“There have been monsters in the woods since the beginning of time,” the older male werewolf says. He has a very sensible energy coming off of him. “I’ve seen things when I was a pup and used to go camping with my gramps.”
“You’re right.” I don’t see a reason to dispute what he’s saying. “This area especially kept us busy as hunters.”
“And this demon, you’re sure you can fight it?”
“Yes,” I say, even though I don’t know what kind of demon I’m going to go up against. I don’t have a choice. “One way or another.”
“And how the hell do you suppose you’ll do that?”
Larkin holds up her hand and tips her head. “We’ve gone company.” Her eyes flash a golden yellow. “The vampires are here.”