Page 7 of Briggs
“What now?” Felix asked.
“We go into the building and find out what we need to be debriefed on,” Raiden said. “I’d guess absolutely nothing since we couldn’t even gain access to the pride’s compound.” Raiden looked over at Felix. “Do you think you can bring our luggage?”
Felix nodded. He disappeared before reappearing about a minute later. With him were all of our bags.
“Thanks,” we told him. Each of us picked up our bag, and after slinging mine over my shoulder, I started toward the council building. Felix quickly caught up, and I smiled over at the fae. “What’s up?”
“Do you think you’d still be willing to teach me poker? I’ve heard some of the other enforcers talking about it, but I don’t know how to play.”
“Sure. I can teach you all kinds of card games.” Felix smiled. Just last week, I was feeling bad about not having spent more time being friendly with the fae enforcers. Maybe this would be a way to hopefully help him feel more welcome. He was often quiet when in the office, but we’d all just assumed that was who he was. Maybe not though.
At the door, I swiped my badge and punched in my pin. The door clicked, and Dimitri held it open for us. We all filed in, and although we used to have to all swipe our badges, it had been brought to the council’s attention that if we were arriving in multiples, it was a bit overkill. Sure, security was important, but if you were with another enforcer, it was hoped that the enforcer would realize if they were with an impostor. Not only that, but everyone’s auras had been mapped, and when someoneor something new arrived on the mountain, the council was alerted.
We all lined up at the desk, Slater giving us a confused look. “I thought you guys were on assignment. But Carrington came back a bit ago, and now you’re here.”
“Things changed,” Dimitri said. He handed Slater his badge, and after he scanned it, he handed the card back, and Dimitri moved to the side. The rest of us did the same, and then we were headed toward our hallway. Our phones all chimed at the same time, and I had to chuckle. There was only one person who could do that, and that was Master Edison. It had been tested. Other created ones had tried to send a text to multiple enforcers at once, and they always came in staggered a bit.
Dimitri was the first to read his message. “It says we are to return to the council and meet in conference room four.”
“What do you know?” I said sarcastically. “We’re already here, and conference room four is just down that hallway.”
Raiden chuckled, and Felix looked a bit confused. It took us less than a minute to arrive at the designated spot, and although Alpha Sergei and Master Edison were already there, it seemed as if neither were actually expecting us to arrive so soon.
“We were already in the building when we received your message,” Dimitri said.
“Come in and sit down,” Master Edison said. “Unfortunately, we do not have a whole lot of information for you as of yet, but I will say that we appreciate your work on this assignment.”
“We didn’t do anything,” Raiden said. He pulled his chair in and leaned forward. I did the opposite and leaned back a bit, placing my hands on my stomach.
“The pride will be looked into further, but at the moment, the bigger issue is what Damien discovered.”
We all glanced at each other, confused.
“Atticus told us he was messaged that demons were in the area.”
“Demons?” Felix asked, his voice coming out a bit squeaky.
“Why did they not rumble before when we were dealing with them in Louisiana?” Raiden asked.
“I don’t know specifics,” Master Edison said. “Only that Atticus came to me, said there was a demon issue near your assignment, and he and his pack needed to go. It seemed urgent, and since I don’t know enough about demons or even hellhounds, I’m trusting Atticus on this. The goddess said he and the others could be trusted completely, so that is what I’m choosing to do.”
“Can you tell us what you saw?” Alpha Sergei asked.
“Nothing,” Dimitri said. “There was a rumbling sound that came from afar, got closer, went by us, then left. It was as if something loud passed by, but there was nothing there that we could see.”
“Damien said it sounded like five, but they were cloaked,” Raiden said. “Whatever that means.”
Master Edison sighed as he looked over at Alpha Sergei. “Do you wish to try to contact her, or should I?”
“Demons have been here on and off for as long as I can remember,” Alpha Sergei said.
“Yes, but why would they cloak themselves, and why would there be so many?”
“Do we need to be here for this?” Dimitri asked. “We were unable to access the pride’s lands and haven’t been able to do anything on the assignment.”
Master Edison and Alpha Sergei stopped discussing whatever they were talking about and looked at us. “Carrington was briefing me on that when Atticus interrupted,” Master Edison said. “We will be looking into the pride more, but it is going to need to wait until we hear back from Atticus.”
“So just go about our day as we normally would here at the council, then?” Raiden asked.
