Page 12 of Midlife Vampire Unexpected

“We freed it from Jane’s body.” Bianca took a cup of tea. “But he’s corporeal now, so he can walk around and interact and talk with any normal human being. He can blend in with the crowd. We thought we were doing a spell to banish him back to Undirheim, but we just gave him freedom to walk the earth.”

“For how long? “I asked.

Everyone looked around at each other and shrugged.

“We don’t really know,” Jane said.

“Don’t forget we’re all a little new with this,” Mae said.

“Listen to me,” Antonio was suddenly very intent on Mae. “You can’t half ass this coven shit. You got that? Do you think they care that you’re new? They do because it gives them an advantage. Whoever you’re up against is thanking their lucky stars you’re new. You’ve got to figure it out and take care of business. Learn the ropes and attack.”

“We are trying.” Mae said through clenched teeth. I could see the stress was getting to her, but she was working hard to keep a solid front.

“Well, that’s why I’m here to help,” Antonio said. “A demon will be corporeal for about seventy-two hours. During this time, he’ll either have to find a host or fulfill the wishes of his master.”

“What do you mean, his master?” I asked. “I thought he was the master of the monster?”

“Everything in the supernatural has a hierarchy system. We thrive on the idea that one person can rule them all: or one organization or one counsel. It’s a train wreck.” Antonio explained.

It wasn’t hard to understand why Antonio was single and out on his own without a pack. He was definitely not the joiner kind. He had good information, though. I took a deep breath and asked the question. “Who do demons report to?”

“Demons tend to report to the king of the demons.”

“Of course, there’s a demon king.” I remembered shaking my head. “Who is it?”

“Thrain, but he rules the underworld with an iron fist and it’s highly unusual a demon would come through and cause havoc here.” Antonio shook his head.

“But the portal was sealed by the demon king himself.” Jane looked pensively at Antonio.

“How do you know it was sealed by the Demon King,” I asked.

“We did some research on the symbols,” Bianca said. “They’re from the royal family of Thrain.”

“The demon must have a pretty high motive for going against his own king.” Mae pondered out loud.

“All we can think of is that he’s trying to get away from Undirheim and become human,” Bianca said. It means he loses immortality, but I don’t know, maybe there’s something he wants as a human?”

“Well, who could offer him humanity?” I asked. “If you find the person who can do that level of magic, and I imagine it must take quite a lot to make a demon human, then you’ll find the person who is trying to break open the cemetery.”

“It could be a demigod,” Antonio said. “They are the most powerful. A dark fairy, a light fairy, even a powerful witch could do it though. Your coven together will probably have the power to grant humanity to a demon.”

“Maybe the demon’s trying to get us all together to grant him the power?” Mae suggested.

“If he’s trying to get us to do something nice for him, he’s really going about it the wrong way,” Bianca grumbled.

“So, we have a demon on the loose who hasn’t personally killed people but has managed to have people killed for his own nefarious purposes. We don’t know who, but somebody’s cut him a deal and we need to find that person, but we also need to find the demon.” I provided a quick summary of the case as I understood it, looking around the room for additional information.

“Well, the demon’s going to be stalking around here and now he’s going to be in human form, so I think we need to get out of The Estate and hang out in the town. Maybe even split up.” Bianca suggested.

“Branson will stay up here and watch The Estate and the cemetery. Matheus is in the Waldorf, so he’ll keep an eye out there,” Mae said.

“I think Chloe and I should go back to work. I can help keep an eye on her.” Bianca offered.

“I’m coming with you,” Antonio said, standing up. I looked over and my lip curled up in a slight snarl.

It was a visceral reaction to having him there. I didn’t even understand it fully myself. “We don’t need your protection.”

“Not yet you don’t,” Antonio said. “But the reality is I’m not worried about you, little vampire. I’m going to protect Bianca because we still haven’t figured out who’s got a price on her head.”

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