“Then how do we defend against that?” someone else asked, her voice sharp with worry.
“Holy water, like we always do against demonic creatures,” Ary replied as he took back control of the meeting. “We will be issuing protective amulets to everyone who steps foot outside this building, and everyone who comes in will have to dip their hand in a bowl of holy water. The shipment will be here this afternoon, so starting tonight we will follow that policy for the foreseeable future. You might not have noticed, but everyone was sprinkled with a drop of it as they walked into the building.”
Kana hadn’t noticed, but he had been distracted by the glares and general mistrust of all the people he didn’t recognize.
“We are protected,” Ary said, “however we must find and neutralize the warlock as quickly as possible. Here’s the plan Stan and I have come up with. Charlie”—he turned to the first visiting hunter at the table—“I want you to split your surveillance team in half, so we have two teams. I want you to fill in the missing members with some werewolves and at least one witch. Alpha Maxwell and Mother Diana have graciously offered some of their people for that purpose. I want one team canvassing this neighborhood—if the hunter’s association was a target for the imp, it’s possible the warlock might try again. That team’s job is to locate that potential threat. The second team will deploy in the city and suburbs, to look for the warlock.
“Marge,” Ary continued quickly before Charlie could voice whatever his furious expression meant. The second hunter at the table turned her head from Charlie to Ary, a resigned expression on her face. “I don’t want you to split up your strike teams, but I do want you to find a way to incorporate some wolves and a witch. I have worked with Kana and Alpha Maxwell before in just such a capacity, and I can tell you they were invaluable. I would like one of your teams to remain here on standby, while the other provides support to our surveillance team in the city.”
Marge’s resigned expression didn’t change, but she did nod.
“But…” Charlie spluttered.
“Kana, Diana, and Alpha Maxwell will remain here to help with coordination and local defenses,” Stan cut in quickly. “If they ask you for something, feel free to run it by me or Ary, but I promise you they are asking for a good reason, and I trust them.”
General grumbling broke out in the room, but no one said anything distinct enough for Kana to make out.
“You’re sure about them?” Charlie asked, not bothering to keep his voice quiet.
Stan frowned, at Charlie and at the question, Kana assumed. “To be perfectly honest, it doesn’t matter if I’m sure. Kana alone is powerful enough to defeat all of us. He’s the one who put a spell on salt, if any of you bothered to read the report Ary released.”
Diana’s eyes narrowed as she glanced at Kana, and Kana hoped Stan hadn’t just opened another can of worms for him.
“If you’ve been paying attention to the Salem coven, you’ll already know who Mother Diana is, and trust me when I say tangling with Alpha Maxwell would not go well for you. Oh, and just as a reminder in case any of you weren’t listening before, an ancient vampire has chosen to throw his weight behind Alpha Maxwell. If you see him while patrolling at night, be very polite, and let him go about his business. He will likely have a werewolf child with him. Leave the kid alone too. Any other pertinent questions?”
Stan scanned the room, looking at as many people as he could as if he was able to gauge their willingness to do as he had ordered with just a glance. When no one spoke up, he nodded to them.
“Dismissed.”
Kana and Ember waited with Johanna for the space to clear, which didn’t take long. Johanna clapped Kana on the shoulder as she turned to leave.
“I’ll see you next week. Try to stay out of trouble until then.”
“Thanks,” Kana replied and waved as she headed back to work.
“Alpha,” Charlie said as he and Marge walked over. “Mother Diana,” he added quickly when Diana joined them. “I wanted to ask you about how your people will be integrated with mine.”
“And mine,” Marge said.
Ember nodded. “Of course. Kana, this may take a while. Do you mind waiting?”
Kana wanted to pop downstairs to see what his coworkers were up to, but he knew that was a bad idea. He would get pulled into work, which he wasn’t supposed to do until after his magic had recovered.
“I’ll wait out front; get some fresh air,” he said instead. “Come find me when you’re done.”
Ember gave Kana one of his beautiful half grins before putting on a more serious face as he turned back to the hunters. Kana headed out, walking through the halls until he reached the front door. Hunters were everywhere. The ones who knew Kana said hello, but there were far more who didn’t know him. Kana received cold and suspicious looks from all of them. He was thankful to step outside into the sunlight, where he could get out of the way of the hustle and bustle.
The air was warm with summer heat, but Kana liked it. He tilted his head back to the sky and closed his eyes, breathing in the air and letting the sun bathe his skin.
“How the heck did you convince the hunters here to hire you?” someone said rudely as they approached Kana.
Kana let out a breath, his moment of happiness gone, and tilted his head back down to look at the man standing in front of him, hands on his hips and a scowl on his face.
“You’ll have to ask Johanna and Ary that,” Kana replied, trying to keep his voice even and unassuming so he didn’t antagonize the hunter.
The hunter spat on the ground to his right. “They said you’re some sort of magical heavyweight, but you look like a scrawny kid to me. I say no way you held off an imp on your own.”
Kana should have known this was coming, and unfortunately, he wasn’t able to prove his abilities at the moment. Somehow the number of hunters in the front yard seemed to have doubled over the last few minutes, and Kana didn’t recognize any faces.