Page 20 of The Demon's Fire
When he stood, clearing his throat, his sister Indigo winked at him. She twirled a strand of thick black hair around her finger while she blew chewing gum bubbles. It was her way. He accepted it.
After he smiled at her, he brushed her off to maintain an air of authority with the group he had called together. He glanced at somber faces, each reflecting the burdensome knowledge he had shared with them. “We have a job to do that requires stealth. Therefore, I have concocted a cover story. Here it is. Scholars at the Ministry of Well Being are writing a new history of Scath. It will document the genealogy of both Aeternals and any related humans. This is the fiction we will present to others. Of course, our real task is to find human descendants of the Blood Coven.”
His son, the Firebrand Rein, slouched in his chair, arms folded over his chest, surreptitiously checking out the time on his D-chip.
Echo, a pride demon who was chief historian at the ministry, stroked a finger across her chin. “If the name Cerberus gets out there, rumor and fear will spread.”
“Hence, the cover story is important. It hides our tracks.” Alarik laced his fingers together, his elbows resting on the table.
The pride demon tapped an entry into her electronic pad.
Alarik pointed toward an incubus. “Logan is a technical expert. Please explain what you’ve done?”
The Firebrands’ resident geek shuffled in his chair, obviously more at home with a computer than with speaking to a group. “Sure. After hours at a keyboard, I found backdoors into all the major medical software used for patient recordkeeping. Let’s just say, one male’s necessary actions due to exigent circumstances is another dude’s hack into not-so-secure files. Anyway, I have an automated search running for specific data. When I locate witch or warlock DNA markers in an Earther’s test results, I will pass the shit … um … stuff on.”
Logan looked relieved when the chief healer took over. “Our job is to root out the patients Logan has identified. Once we do, we notify Kole at the Eastern Stronghold of a scheduled visit. You’ll be handling this for the time-being, Rein?”
When Alarik’s son nodded, the healer continued. “It is a three-step process. Using technology, Logan will find those humans with mage ancestry. Accompanied by the Firebrands, my people will obtain a blood sample from the candidates he identifies. Finally, scientists at our ministry, using the BCA Variant Test, will analyze the sample and determine if the human is a descendant of the Blood Coven.”
The chief healer angled his head toward the table as he consulted his notes. “In our perusal of medical records from Logan, only this morning we identified a female with ancient mage DNA who lives in Cleveland, Ohio. Her name is Margo Hunter. We need a blood sample.”
“Done.” Rein tapped on an electronic pad. “Galena and Chay will reach out to you. If it turns out she’s a descendant, we’ll be bringing her to our stronghold for safety. We’re also focused on the hunt for Cerberus.” He glanced at his mate. “Brae has put an interesting plan into action.”
Alarik and others turned their attention to her as she spiked fingers through her short auburn hair. “Sure thing. I write for my father’s tabloid in Seattle. Some might question whether it’s really journalism, but it serves a purpose.” She waved her hand in the air, dismissively. “Anyway, the paper’s calledStrange but True. Most of the stories we print are from crackpots, but sometimes an article flushes out an Aeternal who has illegally crossed to Earth to commit a crime. That’s why my father runs the rag. When we uncover valuable intel, we turn it over to Alliance agents to handle. I had an idea, similar to one police use to trap violators with too many traffic tickets. We ran a contest to draw out people who believe they are witches or warlocks or descended from them. We offered big cash prizes. Alliance volunteers are screening thousands of phone calls. Mostly crazies have flooded the lines, but I’m still hopeful we’ll get lucky.”
When the meeting attendees began to whisper among themselves, Alarik raised his hand for quiet. “Thank you, dear. Your idea is brilliant. Moving on, my chief scientist, Eliphias.”
The warlock nodded. “My people perfected the method noted by our esteemed healer. We call it the BCA Variant Test. Simply put, it detects humans with Blood Coven ancestry. The hang-up is the initial search of Earth medical records for those with ancient mage DNA. The process is slow and hit-or-miss. We need a faster one. Once we have a potential candidate, we can gather a specimen from them to analyze with the BCA Variant Test.”
Alarik tapped his pen on the table. “It is a laborious method. We think Cerberus uses the same process. Which means he has talent, money, and a network at his fingertips. Anyway, Eliphias just hinted at why you are here. We need fresh ideas on how to detect coven descendants faster.”
Echo lifted her hand, rising, patting down her black robe when Alarik acknowledged her. “Ever since you contacted me, I’ve been thinking about how my historians can assist. My people will pore through archaic documents on site, researching relevant lineage. Though we house many ancient books which may prove valuable, we must handle them with care. Some, if spelled, could destroy themselves when we try to open them. We would appreciate the aid of a witch or warlock powerful enough to detect and remove spells. I had someone on staff. Unfortunately, she is no longer with us. Does anyone here have a suggestion?”
Her gaze pinged around the room while she continued. “Though many books are in our own library, some Aeternals have private copies of their family histories. We shall put out a call for these documents, using the cover story, of course.” She nodded toward Alarik. “My researchers will also tap Earth resources, both online and in libraries. Salt Lake City, where the Church of Latter-Day Saints keeps a variety of genealogy records, is a visit on my list. We shall follow any thread.”
“Thank you.” When Echo sat in her chair, Alarik rested his elbow on the table, chin on fist. “Along with their other duties, healers are preparing to test Alliance employees and any other known Aeternal descendants on Earth.”
Eliphias rose to address Echo. “I would like to recommend Sauro. He’s a mage expert at detecting or removing spells from old texts.” After she entered a note on her device, he turned his attention to the entire group. “My department is working on a way to identify human descendants more quickly than the laborious method of combing through medical records to review blood sample results. We have been unable to find such a process yet, but we are at it twenty-four hours a day.”
“What have you considered?” Alarik tried not to let the disappointing news show on his face.
“Powerful spellcasters in my department deliberated over a summoning which might draw descendants to us. They tell me no. Impossible. We tossed around using an object, like a plant or talisman, something the human offspring might react to. Though the concept has possibilities, the logistics of distribution are staggering.” Eliphias waved his hand through the air. “We’ll keep at it.” He fell into his chair.
Indigo let out a loud shiver. “Ooh! Try Karmas Root. You can use it to summon mages, but it has nasty side effects. Chills, fever, an ugly-ass rash which lasts for days. Kind of a nice high.” She paused when mouths gaped open. “Oh, I never tried it myself, though I did give it to a frenemy.” Her hand stifled a snorting laugh. “Of course, if you use it, you’ll need to watch the hospitals for any signs of Karmasitis. I coined the term myself.” Her lips drew into a smile.
Eliphias scribbled notes with his electronic pencil. “We’ll look into it, but it does not sound promising.”
Indigo shrugged, wrapped a dark curl around her finger, and popped her bubblegum.
Jarek, the Eastern Stronghold djinn commander, pushed back his chair, cocking an ankle onto his knee, the war braids at his temples dangling onto his shoulders. “The vampire Silas, working for Cerberus, kidnapped mage descendants like Rein’s mate, Braelyn, selling them as sex slaves to Aeternals once he determined they didn’t have the correct Blood Coven ancestry. My stronghold is tasked with rounding up these humans. If they are still on Scath, we find them, wipe them, and send them home. Afterward, we, along with Alliance agents, keep an eye on them so they don’t get snatched again. The healers also give us the names of those who don’t pan out as descendants. We keep an eye on them, too, since we don’t want some new Cerberus flunky nabbing them and auctioning them off to the highest bidder.”
Nace, the shifter commander of the Northern Stronghold, stroked his close-trimmed, straw-colored beard, his golden eyes as feral as a jaguar’s. “While Jarek and Kole’s strongholds handle their new assignments, my Firebrands are taking over the day-to-day tasks, including quashing the rampant drug trade.”
Alarik fixed his gaze on his quirky sister. “Do you have anything to share? Of course, you all know Indigo communicates with the River Am.”
When everyone nodded in her direction, she blew an enormous bubble on cue.Pop. Smoothing her long skirt, flipping a strand of curly black hair onto her back, the surprisingly powerful witch stood. Five times she cleared her throat before she tilted up her chin. “The river,” her gaze flitted from eye to eye, “sucks. I saw Cerberus in the Chance Rapids. I couldn’t see his face because he had his back to me, his black robe billowing, as puffed up as his ego. Another male stood beside him. A human. Didn’t get a bead on him either. I’ve got bupkis.” When she flopped into her chair, her jaws moved up and down with each chew of her gum.
“Thank you, dear. Let’s move forward with our plans. Questions?” Alarik looked at the attendees, their heads shaking. “Time is our enemy. We must assume we are in a race with Cerberus. My thanks to all.”
