As the door clicked closed behind Tibias and Carahya, Keera froze, listening. Royal watched her bizarre behavior with mild amusement. Soon, a car engine could be heard, which then faded into the distance. As soon as it was quiet, Keera sprang from her desk chair, shutting off lights.
“What are you doing?!” Royal asked incredulously in a loud whisper. He wasn’t sure why he was whispering, as they were the only ones there, but it seemed to be the appropriate tone of voice to use with a lunatic.
“I’m trying to make it look as if everyone’s gone home for the night.” She locked the office door.
“Yes, that makes perfect sense,” he replied with mock seriousness. “Then, we can hide behind the desks, and, when everyone shows up tomorrow, we can jump up and scare the shit out of everyone. Brilliant.” Keera stopped rummaging through Kole’s desk to look at Royal.
“That’s lame even by your standards.” She continued digging through the drawer until she pulled out the rune. “We need to go somewhere.”
Royal raised an eyebrow. “We?”
“I need to go somewhere,” Keera rephrased, rolling her eyes. “I need you to operate the portal to get there and back.”
“Well, that was very informative.” His voice dripped with sarcasm. “At least Kole leaves the information out on his desk so I’m not completely in the dark.” Keera sighed, exasperated. She hated needing to ask for help, especially from Royal, but this was important.
“We’ve got a lot of questions,” she began slowly. “And, I think I know where we can get some answers. There are some people I used to know who might be able to tell us more about Deus Ignegena.”
“If it’s Council business, why didn’t you get your boyfriend to take you?”
“He’s got enough on his plate right now,” the angel said, then continued softly, “Besides, this is a part of my past that he certainly would not approve of.”
“What’s in it for me?” he asked, ignoring her last comment.
“I don’t beat you to a pulp for the stunt you pulled the other day.” She sounded completely serious.
“Fair enough.” Royal took the rune from Keera and crossed the room to the closet door. If nothing else, the trip would be a wealth of new material to use to get under his coworker’s feathers. “Where to?”
“North Adams, Massachusetts.” Royal nodded and opened the door after a few gestures. The room behind was tiny, no bigger than a small closet, and covered in a layer of dust.
“I don’t think anyone’s used this portal in years,” the elf joked as the pair crowded into the small space. “North Adams must be a happening place.” He closed the door behind them and opened the door on the other side. The night air was cool, colder than it had been in Boston. Mountains loomed in all directions. They had stepped out of a small shed onto a deserted residential street.
“We’re going to get answers here?” The terrow had a hard time believing that anything remotely supernatural could happen in that sleepy little town.
Keera rolled her eyes. “Just try to keep up, blend in, and, most importantly, keep your big mouth shut.” She started quickly walking down the dark street. Eventually, she led him off the road and down a trail into the woods. After a few minutes, Royal began to hear music. Soon, around a bend in the trail, the duo came upon a large clearing pack with people dancing to the blaring sound. Most of them appeared human, though a few supernaturals could be picked out and many more just looked too human to be identified in a glance. Although he couldn’t see it, Royal suspected that a large bonfire provided the flickering orange illumination. He almost lost track of Keera as she melted into the mob, dancing right along with them. She seemed to blend in naturally with the crowd and Royal could only barely keep her purple wings in sight. The angel rhythmically made her way across the clearing to a grouping of folding tables and lawn chairs near the right edge. They were all moderately occupied, but only one in the far corner seemed to interest Keera. Facing the dancers were two college-aged girls, one blonde and one brunette, dressed for the club scene. The table’s third and final occupant was a man with shaggy brown hair wearing a beat up trench coat.
“Look,” The man’s voice was barely audible over the music as they approached him. “I’ll sell you 200 milliliters of unicorn blood for $500 and I’ll throw in a packet of powdered dragon scales. You’re not going to find a better deal.” The two girls didn’t respond as they looked up in fear at the angel that loomed over the seated man; they took no notice of Royal, but scurried off into the crowd. The man slowly turned around. He looked to be in his mid-thirties. He was nervous for a moment before a smile of recognition spread across his face.
“Keera, sweetheart!” There was a quality to the man’s voice that was reminiscent of the gangsters in classic movies. “I almost didn’t recognize you with the new wings! It’s been years; where’ve you been hiding yourself?”
“Here and there,” she replied with an easy smile as she sat opposite him. “You know how it is, Danello.” The man laughed.
“I sure do!” His smile faded as Royal took the seat next to Keera. He eyed the terrow suspiciously. “Who’s your friend?”
“No one important,” she answered casually, “Just another poor sap looking for some excitement. I’ll vouch for him.” Danello looked at Royal skeptically, then returned his attention to Keera.
“Good enough for me.” He leaned towards them across the table, folding his hands. “Now, what can I sell you today? If I had known you were coming I would have stocked some of that high octane demon blood mix you liked so much. As it is, I do have some nice, high quality lust demon blood, some of the best stuff I’ve ever sold. I’m sure that’ll add some excitement to your friend’s night.”
“Not tonight, Danello. I’m looking for some information.” Shaking his head, the drug dealer leaned back in his chair. Keera pulled out a wad of cash. “The money’s still just as good.” He leaned forward again, eyeing the cash greedily.
“What do you want to know?”
“What can you tell me about Deus Ignegena?” Danello’s whole body tensed as she spoke the last words. He ducked lower.
“Not so loud!” he scolded in a tense whisper. He looked around warily. “You’re not going to find anyone here who’ll tell you anything about that. If I were you, I’d stop asking questions and get out of here while you still can.” He moved to leave, but Keera grabbed him by the front of his shirt. Reaching into her pocket, she pulled out her badge.
“You’re with the Council of Draelin?” Danello swallowed hard.
“That’s right.” Keera shoved the badge back into her pocket, but did not let go of his shirt. “You can either answer my questions here, or I take you into the Council for selling illegal supernatural substances and you answer their questions at headquarters. Your choice, but you should know that the Council’s methods are less than pleasant.” The man hesitated, looking for a way out.
“What do you want to know?” Keera released his shirt and he sat back down in his chair.
“Whatever you can tell me.”
“Listen, I don’t know much.” He kept his voice low. “I know that they’re powerful. People that talk about them usual end up disappearing a few days later. They’ve been selling stuff to us suppliers, not your usual run of the mill lesser demon junk, but real high quality stuff that has to come from some pretty powerful demons.”
“Anything else?” Keera asked, already intrigued by what she’d heard.
“This is just a rumor, mind you.” He paused to look around, then continued, even quieter than before, “They say that Deus Ignegena is a cult, that they worship some ultra powerful demon like he’s a god or something. They say that their trying to open some sort of doorway into the demon realm so that he can come through, but I don't know how much of that is true. That’s all I know.” Keera nodded, slowly absorbing everything he said.
“Who’s your contact?”
“Mortimer Slater, human. That’s all I know, I swear.” Keera nodded and stood up; Royal followed suit. She tossed a hundred dollar bill onto table.
“For your trouble.” The elf and the angel blended back into the crowd. Neither spoke until they were on the trail, out of earshot of the music.
“Well,” Royal said with a chuckle. “You certainly used to know some interesting people.”
“Let’s just hope,” Keera replied, “that we get back before Kole and Tibias know we were gone.’
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