Page 46 of Shadow Seeking

“I’ll see you later—I’ll probably go home this afternoon and pack some more. I’ll come back to feed the cats, and bring a few of my things over in my car. The things I don’t want to risk breaking.” She waved as I headed out the door.

By the timeI arrived at the office, it was a few minutes past noon. I asked Sophia to call a meeting in the breakroom, so people could eat while we talked.

“Glad to see you hear,” Dante said, passing me in the hall. “Feeling better?”

I nodded. “Yeah, I’ll tell you about it at the meeting.”

When we were gathered in the breakroom, I told them what had happened.

“Apparently, my demon side is making itself known. I also learned what kind of demon I am. I never thought to check with any sort of demonologist before, and I figured that witches wouldn’t be able to tell.” I sighed. “I’d like for someone to do some research on my clan, as much as you can find out, so that I know what I’m dealing with.”

“I’ll do it,” Sophia said. “I’ve got time.” She paused as her phone rang. “I’ll take this over there.”

As she moved over to the side, Orik asked, “What’s the name of your Demonkin clan?”

“The Arosien Clan. I know nothing about them. Nothing about my father. I don’t even know if my mother knew what clan he was from. All she ever told me was that he bedded her one night and then vanished. I have no idea if that’s the truth, or if she lied.” I stared at the table, pensive. It was starting to hit me that if I didn’t like what she found out, then what was I going to do? But I needed to know, especially since my powers were starting to rise.

“All right,” Dante said. “What next?”

“Well, Lazenti is coming tonight—” he paused as Sophia returned.

“We have a problem. That was Tana from the Supe Community Action Council. There’s been another attack at the building, but this time there are injuries. It just happened. The police are on their way, but Tana asked that we come over, too.” She opened her laptop and brought up the local news. Sure enough, there was a video of breaking news.

The reporter,Mindy Shandel, was standing in front of the building. Smoke was pouring out from a shattered window, andI recognized Tana, standing near a police officer, tears running down her face.

“We’re here with Tana Weathers, the director of the Supe Community Action Council. Ms. Weathers, you’ve had issues before with attacks on your organization, haven’t you?” Mindy’s voice was a little too perky for my taste, especially given the subject.

“Unfortunately, yes,” Tana said. “We’re working with investigators to find those responsible. Hate crimes are on the rise, and we’re not about to let those responsible drive us out. The SCAC stands for unity in the Supe Community, it stands for friendship and helping those in need, regardless of their nature. We won’t let hatred and bigotry derail our purpose.”

Mindy turned back to the camera. “Unfortunately, the attack today has resulted in at least three injuries. Names of the injured are being withheld until families can be notified. The police have no leads yet, but they are active on the case.”

She turned back to a police officer who abruptly asked her to step back, and then the news continued, moving on to other events.

“We’d better get over there,”I said. “Sophia, can you call Destiny and ask her if she could meet us there? We need to talk to the cops and she’s the best go-between we have.” I turned to Dante. “You and Orik, come with me. The rest of you wait here and do whatever needs done.”

“You feel up to it?” Dante asked.

I nodded. “I’m fine. Whatever the doctor gave me worked wonders.” I slipped my jacket on, grabbed my purse, andmotioned for Dante and Orik to follow me. Within five minutes, we were on the way.

The streets were busy, and as we approached the SCAC, we had to pull over and park. About a half block all around the center was cordoned off. There were cops everywhere. This must have been worse than I thought.

I walked over to one of the officers whom I vaguely remembered and, waiting until she looked at me. “I don’t know if you remember me, but…”

She glanced at me for a moment, then said, “Oh, yes. You’re…Kyann, right?”

“Yes, Kyann Sarasan. I run Shadow Blade Investigations. We started working on investigating the attacks on the SCAC. Is there a chance we can talk to Tana? If we can see the damage done, as well, it would help.” I didn’t expect to be given free rein while the cops were in the middle of their investigation, but it was worth the try.

“I can’t let you go in yet, but I’ll have one of my officers bring Tana out so you can talk to her. Wait here, please.”

She headed off, motioning to one of her officers. After speaking in low tones to him, he vanished around the corner. A few minutes later, he returned, Tana by his side.

She looked a far cry from what she had looked like the last time we saw her. What had been a nice suit was covered with soot, and parts of it were ripped. Her face was smudged and there was a trickle of blood dripping down the side of her face from a cut near her temple.

“Are you all right? Should you talk to the medics?” I scanned her from head to toe.

Tana shrugged. “I can wait a few minutes. They’re checking out my secretary right now. She caught the worst of the blast.” She looked ready to cry and her demeanor slid. “I want these motherfuckers caught. Candy’s in critical condition.”

The pain in her voice was palpable. I gently led her over to a nearby bench to sit down. She gave me a helpless look.

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