Page 23 of The Clash of the Damned
“Because I respect him. He’s been one of the most stable relationships in my life, and after what we put him through, it’s the least we can do. Don’t you have something better to do with your time instead of babysit us?” I ask Clark, frustrated by him shadowing us. “We can handle this.”
It’s difficult to keep Clark’s pace with him being the tallest of the siblings, but we manage as we near our destination, a family park in the perfect suburban neighborhood. “Like you handled Jude almost ripping your heart out while you stood there and accepted it?” Amelia snaps. Bundled in her thick, pale-blue, tweed jacket, it does little to soften the venom in her voice.She hasn’t forgiven me for that, and in a way, I get it. She just found us, her family, and she was moments from watching me die in front of her, exactly like her mother did. I make a mental note to buy her a lavish gift to make amends.
Jude. The unstoppable force of nature in my life. Try as we might, we can’t stay away from each other, and we know it can’t last. We also can’t seem to stop hurting each other in unforgivable ways. I’m not naive. I know her sleeping with me doesn’t mean she’s going to change her mind. She’s nothing if stubborn, and will stick to her plan to marry Jayden and unite the Druid leadership. Raising my hands in defeat, I let my baby sister win this round as we continue walking towards Gabe’s crime scene.
“Did anyone stop to ask why Sloane’s using Jude to do some of her dirty work? While it’s definitely in line with her character to control events fromthe shadows, out of all the heirs she could have chosen, Jude seems…odd,” I muse out loud to my siblings.
“Agreed,” Clark chimes in. While I was at the meadow with Jude, Amelia brought him up to speed on all issues Siphoner related, and I can assume it’s what I have to thank for his pesky, shadow-like behavior. “If it were me, I would have gone with a Rogue or a Sorcerer. More versatile and less breakable.”
“Since we don’t know the answer, I have a more important question,” Amelia jumps in. “How did you get away from the lovely Giada today?”
Giving her a brief glare, I spot Gabe and his crime scene ahead. “I am trying to find a way to send her back to Ryder without offending him. I’m surprised my dear, sweet mother tried to marry me off to anyone that wasn’t a Rogue. Until then, I’m making lots of excuses. Now can we please focus on the point of today?”
I know three Rogue’s are better than one. On the bright side, I never thought I would see the day my siblings gang up on me and get along, so I will take it with a smile on my face if it keeps them civil. “While you’re a minor inconvenience to my life, I don’t want you dead, little brother. So until we deal with this cult and fifth family situation, it’s best we stick together.”
It’s been a while since I’ve seen Gabe in person, but the stress from his job doesn’t seem to have done him any favors. Between his thinning hair and growing gut, I wonder if suggesting early retirement may be in his best interest. He looks up from his crouched position in front of the body and motions for me to join him. I cross the crime scene tape, but I take a step back as the police hold Amelia and Clark back. “A little help here?” I call to Gabe. He gives the police permission to let us all through. Climbing underthe yellow tape, we join him by the covered body in the center of the park, next the merry-go-round.
“Please tell me that’s a kid’s hopscotch game gone wrong, and not in fact what I think it is?” Amelia points to red markings next to the body. I notice what she picked up before us, the red spray painted symbols.
“That can’t be Satanic symbols? You’ve got to be joking!” Clark exclaims.
“They left bones and melted candles too. The coroner will confirm if they are animal or human. Whoever did this really wanted to give us the full satanic ritual experience,” Gabe explains.
I’m as familiar with death as someone in my line of work can be–I’m either enforcing it, or avoiding it–but something about this body hits differently. We’ve been behind the cult every step of the way. Our kind did the hunting before, but now we’re being hunted.
What appears to be a speeding press van catches our attention as it pulls up to the curb. Another one follows, shortly thereafter. They quickly and efficiently start unpacking their equipment while the police officers at the tape try their best to keep them at bay, until another van arrives. “Fuck!” Gabe exclaims. “I thought we had more time!” He pops a piece of gum in his mouth and chews aggressively as he thinks and paces. Good, he’s trying to stop smoking. Between the two of us, he’s the one that should.
“What did you need from us, Gabe?” I ask him, trying to bring his focus back to the here and now.
“Let me be direct. After that whole ordeal with your kind a few weeks ago, I’m on thin ice with the bosses. I need a win here before they start losing faith in my ability to close cases and my reputation is compromised. My kids are not done with college, and you still need me, so it’s in everyone’sbest interest that we solve this quickly.” His hand waves towards the press. “Them being here, when we were trying to be discreet, doesn’t help us. Panicked people taking the law into their hands is something we all want to avoid.”
“Agreed.” I don’t mention that I wouldn’t be surprised if the press has someone in the police department on payroll, like I do.
Gabe continues laying out his theory, “I suspect The Children of Christ are behind this murder. After their appearance on the news, they’re obvious suspects. Unfortunately, that would never hold up in court as it’s all circumstantial, and with the satanic elements, we also have to explore that lead. To do anything in this town, we need proof.” He rubs his hands together, trying to ward off the cold through his blue, plastic gloves. “I need you to confirm this is one of your kind. If it is, we may need to look to otheravenuesto deal with this, since the law won’t work in our favor.”
“I don’t like this,” Clark says. “That makes five bodies in total that we’re aware of. We should clear the body and get out of the open. Here, we have no way of defending ourselves, and the swing set is not good enough cover.” I consider his council. He’s right, but I still need Gabe, so I need to risk it.
As an afterthought, I offer, “You and Amelia keep scanning the crowd. See if anyone stands out.”
Clark grabs my arm, forcing me to pause. “That’s not good enough, brother. We’ve got heads chopped off, brutal stabbings, forced changes, and those are the ones we know of. Even with our healing, this is a risk.”
“I know, brother; we’re getting lazy. It’s what happens when you think you’re untouchable, and now we’re all learning the hard way.” I remove my arm from his grasp and bend down with Gabe to inspect the body. Iimmediately recognize his face. He’s one of the Undead, and he’s deathly pale. “How did he die?” I ask.
“The coroner still needs to do a proper post mortem to confirm, but our best estimation is loss of blood from the missing limbs.” He lifts the tarp further, and I see the Undead is missing each of his limbs. What a fucking way to go. Even I would have died from that.
“As Supernaturals, we’re not in the business of giving out our secrets, in fact, it’s something we guard closely. But I’ll help you. If I find you divulging our secrets, I’ll kill you myself.”
“Understood,” he confirms. “Is he one of you?”
Lifting the lip of the body, I expose his gum and show the raised, white piece that the rest of us don’t have. “This is specific to the Undead. None of the other Supernaturals have it. I would recommend you cover it up, and we explore some of those avenues you mentioned.” At the rate the Supernaturals are being killed off, there aren’t going to be many of us left if we don’t stop this soon. Which I assume is the cult’s point. Recovering the body, we both stand, and I motion towards the press. In the few moments we’ve been inspecting the body, even more of them have arrived. “You should get ahead of that and make a statement. Control the narrative before it controls you, especially considering the symbols. We know how the press eat up shit like satanic rituals surrounding a death.”
“Time to bullshit my way out of this one too,” Gabe murmurs before he strides over to the press. The noise from them becomes almost unbearable as they clamor to have their questions answered. His voice rings out across the clearing. “There are no suspects yet as we gather evidence. The moment we have a suspect in custody, we will let the public know. Until then, travelin pairs and avoid putting yourself in dangerous situations or going out at night.”
A reporter pipes up, “Is this in connection with the large droves of humans going missing? Or is this a new serial killer?”
“Why is there a rise in murders and perceived crime? Is Chicago even safe anymore?”
From the corner of my eye, I see Amelia walking towards the crowd, focused on something. She pauses abruptly and turns to look at me and Clark, shouting, “Duck!” My legs are in motion before my brain catches up with her warning, and I hear a click. A loud boom echoes throughout the park as a wall of fire races towards me.
