Page 57 of Anarchy
Lilith had learned some of the blackmail files had been fabricated. He started with framing people before he moved to mass murder and betrayal. I’d never used my hacking skills to frame anyone. That was never my MO. I did havesomemorals.
I could, however, unfuck a frame job if there was an electronic paper trail, and with a little digging, I could find out if most of these claims were legit or not. Digging into rape allegations wasn’t beyond my scope either. There was usually money involved in that. Lots and lots of hush money to make sure it went away if your victim ever spoke up.
I had abigproblem with guys like that, and Lilith apparently did too because she told me to take an extra hard look at those. I’d met plenty of fuck boys who didn’t know what no meant and thought if they tried to pin me, I was just going to let them when I wasn’t into it. I generally beat the crap out of them and stole all their shit. They weren’t about to admit to anyone the cute vampire at the club who was wearing glitter beat their asses and stole all their valuables.
I was glued to the laptop Lilith gave me doing my thing. I was happy for everyone eating and talking, but I had work to do. Bram sat next to me on the couch. I knew thistotallywasn’t the time, but he smelled amazing, and I kind of wanted to bite him.
“I’m guessing you’re doing your thing with computers again. Anything I can help with? Talvath might be of assistance.”
“That actually would help. I’m going through Akul’s nasty blackmail files. Lilith said some of them are frame jobs. I can undo that if they did electronically it if anyone else knows about it, but she also wants to know if any of these are true. There are some pretty serious allegations in here for people who are supposed to run an entire realm.”
“Talvath! Can you come over here a minute? Lilith has Balthazar digging into the blackmail files, but he doesn’t know these people. I know their policies and what they say when cameras are rolling, but you’re friends with them.”
Yeah, I definitely needed his insight. I wasn’t super fond of Talvath at first and had only been busting my ass to help rescue him because it meant a lot to Bram, and we kind of needed him to get to Dorian. But I liked the demon now. He’d always been #teamBram, and he didn’t deserve what happened to him. He’d been fighting for this revolution this entire time.
I usually worked alone unless I was helping Kaine. Shit was always much easier when I knew what I was digging for. I turned the laptop around so Talvath could look at the document.
“Okay, the first thing you should know is that parliament in Hell differs greatly from what you are used to back on Earth. Donations to politicians aren’t allowed, even when they are running for office. It’s not a career where you make more money and have better health insurance than the middle class.
“Everyone here has the exact same health insurance, and our politician’s pay is based on the median income of the people they represent. So it keeps them honest and working for the people.
“Most politicians in Hell are inherently good. They take the job because theywantto help people. But, like anything, some bad people get elected. People get elected with good intentions, then the power goes to their head, and they turn to the dark side.
“I could tell you my suspicions of everyone on this list, but that’s all they are. Some of these people are my friends and have been for a very long time. I’d love to be able to say that what’s in this document was fabricated, but I saw their reaction when we stepped into the chamber, even after reading the manifesto and hearing the press conference.
“Some of this could very well be fabricated, but there’s a different truth out there. If you want to find corruption in the government, start looking at money. They aren’t going to be living lavish lifestyles. If a large sum of money randomly appeared once and was left there, there’s a big chance someone moved it there, knowing it could get them kicked out of office.
“People get inheritances and sell vehicles and property all the time. Politicians are no different. It’s generally spent or invested. If they are regularly taking bribes, it’s going to be good and hidden. If a large sum of money randomly showed up in their account with a blackmail threat, it’s going to sit untouched. They’ll know the paper trail looks bad but trying to hide it looks worse. The only hope they have of saying they were framed was that they left the money untouched and unspent. I’m honestly not sure how you’re going to verify the rape allegations, but I’ve always gotten bad vibes about the ones who have them.”
“Oh, that comes down to money too.”
“Hacking the bank is going to be difficult,” Talvath said.
“Oh, please. I hacked both the supernatural and human government just for funsies.”
Bram draped his arm around my shoulder, and I was so here for that. Would he mind just a little nip to his neck? I’ll bet he tasted amazing.
“We never would have found you if it weren’t for Balthazar. Iknowhe can do it.”
I felt someone rubbing my neck. I’d know that wonderful smell and those smooth hands anywhere. Ripley was behind me. Reyson, Felix, Gabriel, and Lucifer joined us.
They were all chiming in about my abilities. It felt good, but it also didn’t. I was insecure about many things, but not about things IknewI was good at or what I saw in the mirror every day. There wasn’t a bank in existence that could keep me out, and that included demonic banks.
But I hadn’t been able to tell them exactly where to find Ripley. I had a general location, but I would have needed more time to get an address. If Reyson wasn’t Reyson and Felix couldn’t sense Ripley, something bad would have happened. It might not have been to Ripley, but they could have hurt May. Akul and Oscar wouldn’t have taken May standing up to him for trying to rape Ripley lightly.
They may have needed Ripley unharmed, but May was expendable to them. I knew Ripley. She wasn’t fighting because she knew we were coming, but she would if someone tried to hurt May. Dorian was unkillable with that necklace around his neck. He certainly should have been dead after we all took turns with him. Apparently, demons were pretty hard to kill unless you knew how, which Ripley didn’t. Her safe status could have changed real fast.
IknewI could do this, but how fast? Could I do this before anyone got hurt? Also, Ripley and Ravyn were both in love with their jobs. They worked their asses off to get them and took pride in it. The twins were staying to watch history be made, but I knew they were worried about what was going on at the library and museum with them gone.
Lilith got exactly what she wanted when she took on parliament, but I was there at Akul’s house when his wife and all her friends thought they were capable of killing gods. Some of these allegations were no joke, and these people had followers.
I knew I was good but was I good enough to crack this before any violence started?
40
Felix
I’d been alive for historical events before. I’d been reborn as a familiar and seen how they were talked about centuries later. Most of the time, it was accurate, but some of it was revisionist history, like what happened with the Hellhounds after the civil war in Hell.
