Page 19 of Just Dare Me
“But why?” somebody asks. “What’s his motive?”
“That’s the easy part. Arael Moaz is a warmonger. And while we know from experience that knowledge of the underworld doesn’t guarantee war between us and humans, outing us in such a violent and powerful manner definitely will. How else can the human world react when their first collective experience with us is mass destruction by demonic monsters? You think they’ll stop to listen to the rest of us waving our hands, saying, ‘Hey, just so you know, we’re not all like this.
“No, there’d be no walking this back. No living together. It would be a war to the death of one side or the other. A real utopia for a demon like Arael. He would literally feast off this for the next thousand years. In a world at war, the warmonger is king, and Detroit would be his throne.”
A middle-aged sorcerer—some rich politician guy—raises his voice. “This scenario is precisely why we should have already been working with Washington on a systematic rollout of exposure to the public. The longer we stay hidden, the more we risk losing control of the narrative. Are we really going to allow our public image to be determined by demons?”
Everybody starts shouting. Of course they do, because this just became all about politics.
“There’s no need for debate,” Madison West says. “No matter what your opinions may be on the matter of exposing the underworld, I think we can all agree that letting it happen via the destruction of Detroit at the hands of Arael Moaz is not good for anybody.” While the crowd simmers down again, she smooths away the glossy, silver flip of hair that has fallen down over her eyes. “Trust me, I fully intend for this debate to continue for many years, because we willnotlet Arael Moaz dictate the terms of our future. We will stop him by any means necessary.”
I raise my hand. “For clarity’s sake, I think we need to establish the exact wording of what we’re doing here, for total accuracy with any bragging rights after. Now, maybe I’m wrong, but it sounds like what you’re asking is for us to save the world.”
Her answer is quick and decisive. “Yes, I am.”
“Cool, just checking.”
“Actually, I’m glad you spoke up, Agent Davies. Please join me here, where we can all see you.”
Ummm…backfire. Like, top three backfires of all time.
Nick Gorgeous calls out, “For clarity’s sake, Shayne, that means get your ass up here.”
For some stupid reason, my dominance decides that Nick Gorgeous—a dragon mythic—is out of line. With a white hot flare-up in my chest, I fire back, “Why don’t you come over here and make me, Nick?”
There’s a sharp intake of breath from the crowd. Nick jerks his hat down low over his eyes. “Excuse me?”
As quickly as it flared up, my dominance crawls back into the pit of my stomach—the traitor—leaving me to clean up the mess. A nervous laugh escapes my dry throat. “That came out wrong, I admit. What I meant was, I’d be happy to get my ass up there, boss.” As I pick my way through the crowd, I see that Nora is clamping a hand over her mouth, trying to stifle a laugh. “Well, he started it,” I hiss as I pass by.
“Go on girl, save that world,” she hisses back. I try to pinch her, but she twists away, clearing her throat and resuming a mask of dignity.
Director West puts her arm around my shoulders. I feel like I’ve been brought in front of the school by the principle to apologize for some kind of prank. Outside of my small circle of friends, I know I don’t hold much goodwill among this crowd. You don’t have to be Nora Jacobs to read the words going through their minds.Punk.Weakling.Disgrace.Trouble-maker.Traitor.Joke. It’s safe to say that the general consensus is that I definitely don’t deserve to be standing up here next to the most respected sorcerer of Detroit.
“Most of you know Agent Davies,” she says. “Shayne joined us about six months ago, and in that short time has been the tip of the spear in our campaign against Arael Moaz, with or without Agency approval.” She smiles. “I know her methods are sometimes questionable, and I, personally, have a few more gray hairs since hiring Shayne, but the truth is,everythingwe have on this case comes from her tireless efforts. Any chance we have of stopping Marco Deus is because of Shayne and her team.”
“Well, I wouldn’t call it a team, and I wouldn’t say it’smine.”
“It is now,” she says. “This case calls for a specialized task force, and I’m appointing Agent Davies as its Special Agent in Charge, effective immediately.”
My mouth drops open. “Uhhh…what?” And the look on the faces of the entire crowd is like,Uhhh…what?
Nick winks at me with smug satisfaction. “She said you’re the SAC now, boss. That means all the administrative duties that come with it. All those reports, and paperwork filing, and scheduling with spreadsheets. Oh, you’ll love it.”
I jab both my pointer fingers at him. “As the reigning SAC, I appoint Nick Gorgeous as my paperwork secretary person.”
He swipes the hat off his head. “You can’t do that!”
“I’m the SAC!”
“And I’m stillyourSAC!”
Ren raises his hand. “I volunteer as the task force administrative assistant.”
“Sold!” I shout.
Nick waves his arms. “No, no, no. Ren ismyadministrative assistant.”
Nora raises her hand. “I volunteer for the task force.”
