Page 4 of Legacy of Chaos

Chapter 1

Pride is the master sin of the devil, and the devil is the father of lies

— Edwin Hubbell Chapin

“Mr. Stryke. You’re telling me that the greatest minds at every major scientific institution, from the National Institute for Nuclear Physics and CERN to Stanford University and the Chinese Academy of Sciences, are wrong, andyouare right. Is that what you’re saying?”

Stryke stared at the life-sized, holographic image of the vice president for the World Council on Supernatural Governance from where he stood in the middle of his three-thousand-square-foot office, his feet centered on a glowing symbol etched into the marble floor.

“Yes, that is what I’m saying.” He took a sip of his coffee. “And most of those minds aren’t all that great.”

The dozen other holographic bigwigs sitting at the WCSG conference table put their heads together and murmured among themselves, but Ethan Winston Whitmore the fucking Third just kept looking at Stryke like something scraped off a shoe.

“So, you believe you may have solved the world’s energy and climate crisis,” Whitmore said, his voice dripping with mockery.

“Yes,” Stryke repeated for the third time. These guys were as dense as osmium. And much like the platinum metal, they were brittle and hard to work with. “And if I keep having to answer thesame question dozens of times, we’re going to be here until the damned apocalypse.”

Whitmore snorted and turned to his colleagues. “This is preposterous. There’s no way an element found in the demon realm of Sheoul can betamedand made into a liquid that will fuel everything gas and oil have powered for centuries—”

“Andremove some of the carbon dioxide from the atmosphere that was put there by the burning of fossil fuels,” Stryke interjected. “Don’t forget that.”

Whitmore huffed, his agitation and voice ramping up a few levels. “We should convene with every global coalition to ban the research and development of what could clearly be a dangerous element.”

This guy was such a douche. “I’m guessing you own a lot of oil and solar stocks.” Actually, Stryke didn’t have to guess. He knew. He’d researched these guys down to the color of their underwear. He knew what they ate for breakfast, where every cent of their fortunes came from, and who they were fucking instead of their wives.

“That’s irrelevant—”

“I’d say it’s very relevant.”

Whitmore glared daggers. “You should not have been allowed to buy an entire oil drilling operation in the North Sea and then keep regulatory agencies and world governments in the dark about what is happening there.”

“You’re kidding, right?” Stryke took a leisurely drink of his coffee. When he was done, he strolled over to his desk and took his time placing the mug on a coaster. He loved making powerful people wait. And not just wait. Wait for ademon.

“You should bethankingme for purchasing theSea Storm,” he said as he returned to stand on the glowing glyph that prevented anyone from recording him. “Humans aren’t equipped to handle what that oil company drilled into. IfStryTech hadn’t sealed the breach when we did, the world would be dealing with a lot worse than the handful of orca-sized demons my people hunted down. You can’t even begin to comprehend the kind of evil that would have escaped into our oceans. Sentient, soul-eating acid clouds and gigantic, demonic leviathans never before seen. So, you know, you’re welcome.”

There was still some concern about the instability of the anomaly, but he’d keep that to himself.

“That’s enough, Mr. Stryke. But wewilldiscuss this later.” Whitmore adjusted his glasses and brushed a lock of gray hair off his forehead. “Right now, let’s move on to the incident that brings us to the main focus of this meeting.”

The incident. When one of StryTech’s weapons was used in a violentincidentbetween the two biggest rival demon-fighting agencies in the world. During a cooperative interagency effort, a rogue Aegis idiot killed two Demonic Activity Response Team agents. Which then caused an international crisis that worsened when the vengeance demon fiancé of one of the dead agents went full John Wick on every Aegi he could find. The images and live footage had gone super viral, triggering an avalanche of outcry and protests.

Worldwide furor continued to intensify, fueled by the hungry-for-conflict media, as well as warring religious and political factions vying for power. The flames of dissent were spreading like wildfire through an already on-edge, largely anti-demon public. Cries for DART to be defunded for employing demons were met with demands for The Aegis to be held accountable for killing “innocent demons.”

It was a shitshow the World Council on Supernatural Governance was trying to sort out before the world caught on fire.

The problem was that the WCSG often allowed politics to override smart decisions.

Stryke spent the next hour answering dumb questions and dealing with hostile jerks who hated demons and pretty much everything Stryke did. Yet the WCSG installed StryTech’s demon-detection devices in every building. They’d spent millions on the DeTecht devices, as well as his other communications and security products.

The comms unit on his wrist—a StryTech next-gen prototype—pulsed, alerting him to an upcoming meeting. “Are we done here?” He walked behind his desk. “I have things to do.”

“We all have things to do, Mr.—”

Stryke severed the link to the virtual meeting, putting an end to Whitmore’s nasally, narcissistic drone. The guy was an insufferable asshole.

And Stryke was an expert on those. Took one to know one and all that.

The moment the hologram disappeared, a light flashed on his comms pad, and his assistant’s voice, touched with a hint of an Australian accent, rang in his ear. “Mr. Stryke, Kynan Morgan is here to see you. Also, your—”

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