“There, there,” The phoenix said in the most uncomforting voice ever, and Valeria shot up, startling her partner.
“Do I only think about myself?” The vampire questioned.
“I don’t read minds,” Ziana shrugged before getting up from the bed and moving back to her spot at the desk, leaving Valeria to mope by herself.
◆◆◆
The next night at breakfast, it was announced that the internships for Teams A through C will resume as planned. Valeria was thrilled. Finally, they were getting back into the action, but she was also nervous. Would Callan and her mom say something to her? Would Emalia tell them about their conversation? Were they going to tell them about the case? Valeria’s thoughts were consumed in this as they made their short journey to the GSI building. Valeria and the students who didn’t get to return for their first night were taken to the front desk where they got IDs and passes to move through the building. Soon Ziana and Valeria were riding the lift up to the A Team floor. When the doors opened, Xander was standing there waiting for them, his hand resting on his hip and a polite smile dressing his lips.
“Welcome back,” Xander said, “We have a lot to talk about. Follow me.”
The first thing Valeria thought was that they knew and they were so screwed. Xander led them through the corridors to the main room, the room was scattered with case files, and dark chairs sat around the large wooden table. The entirety of Team A was occupying the chairs around the table. Florence and Callan sat at the far end and were talking lowly to each other before stopping at their entry.
“Take a seat,” Xander gestured towards the three empty chairs, and they both obeyed.
“Are you going to tell us about the case?” Ziana asked as Xander took a seat across from them between Callan and Florence.
“Indeed, it has come to our attention that you would look into this anyway,” Xander said thoughtfully, “After meeting with Headmaster Grey-Dracul, Mind Healer Anai and Fang we have come to a conclusion that you should be allowed to observe. In other words, we are going to tell you what's been going on and how it connects to your friend's vision.”
* * *
Chapter Eight
The Demon King
“First things first, once you leave this floor, you are not permitted to speak of anything discussed here. Not at your dorm, not even on other floors in this building. You are never to speak of this case to anyone. Not to each other or other people who already know about this. Is that understood?” Xander said this in a no-nonsense tone as he held their gazes. Standing in front of them was not her Uncle, no this was the Captain of Team A.
“Yes sir,” Ziana and Valeria chorused in unison as he took a seat at the head of the table.
“I won’t lie to you girls, the images that we will show you tonight are gruesome. Are the two of you ready?” He asked, raising his auburn brows at them, and they nodded silently, “Alright, Will.”
Will stood up silently, and the sorcerer created a magical projection of all the case files from the table into the air around them. Valeria stared in awe as the purple crystal around his neck began to glow, and a sketched image of a timeline appeared before them.
“This case started one hundred and seven cycles ago when what we call, The Demon King broke into a home in VT and slaughtered an entire family leaving only the youngest child alive with a mark branded into their skin. Since then there have been twenty-one families who have met the same unfortunate fate”, Xander explained. Behind him, an image of the mark, the same one she had seen on both Edith and Ziana, was projected. Valeria felt Ziana tense beside her, and she spared a glance to her before turning her attention back.
“It held a pattern of killing every four to five cycles continuously,” Florence added, crossing her arms with a pinched expression on her face. Looking around, she could tell that the entire room looked about the same, “but up until seven nights ago, the Demon King hadn’t killed in twelve cycles.”
Valeria gasped as another file was flashed before them showing pictures of bloody water and dead bodies. Callan continued on, “The family that was attacked was a school of merpeople living here in Kalissa. They had their own tank system where they’d sleep during the night. The youngest daughter, Kaia, was recovered from the bottom of the pool. Unfortunately, she died a few nights ago from her wounds.”
“The Demon King has shown no sign of pattern, only that it kills the entire family and leaves the youngest of the group alive,” Agent Quigley spoke up, more images of dead bodies and the egregious crime scenes projected behind her, “It does not seem to favor any species, gender, area or size of family. That is what makes it so hard to predict where he is going to strike next.”
“You’re calling it a king? How do you know it’s a male?” Ziana asked, “I was attacked, but I couldn’t tell you what gender it was.”
“It spoke to the first Marked One,” Will replied, “and they referenced to it as a he. It’s the only thing we have to go on.”
“Why can’t we just ask the first Marked One to help identify it, if they have heard the voice?” Valeria questioned thinking back to the voices in the hallway. If they could ask the first Marked One to talk to everyone at the academy, they could catch the Demon King and stop whatever they were planning.
“The First Marked One is the most protected beast in Beastmora,” Callan replied, leaning back against his chair, his face guarded.
“Despite that,” Agent Dakota said, “We can’t exactly line everyone and every demon in Beastmora up and ask them to speak.”
“We believe that it has the ability to transform into a regular beast,” Agent Vega added.
“How do you know?” Valeria inquired.
“I have a sample of the Demon Kings blood,” Florence answered, “It has the same properties that Wolves blood does, that allows them to transform. Despite that, it does not match wolf DNA. What we do know is that it was a born demon and not a bitten one.”
“Blood Magic isn’t an exact science, especially when the sample is so small,” Will chimed in.
“If we had more blood we could potentially find a paternal match, but there is only so much possible with a measly two drops of blood,” Florence continued, “and beyond that demon blood is extremely diluted which makes it difficult to test in the first place. It would take a tremendous amount of work to separate the two blood origins, and there is only one me.”
“Florence is the only Blood Magic specialist in Beastmora with the talent or clearance to do this,” Xander said, and Valeria felt a feeling of pride in her chest.
“Why haven’t you told the public about this? You could’ve saved some people if they could prepare for this,” Ziana snapped heat radiating from the phoenix.
“And cause mass hysteria among the public,” Callan scoffed, “You weren’t around during the Demon War, half the people died in the beginning because they were all too busy freaking out that they got mauled to death.”
“Callan,” Xander sent the wolf a warning look before returning his gaze back to Ziana and Valeria, “The Council of Beastmora have been informed of the situation at hand. However, they have made the decision to keep the public in the dark until we had a way of stopping these attacks.”
“Do you have a way?” Valeria whispered, unable to understand how the kings and queens of every species could just keep such a monumental secret from their people. They had a right to know that there was a demon on the loose, just slaughtering entire families whenever they felt the urge.
“Not yet but one night we will catch him and the Demon King will get no mercy for his crimes,” Xander said his eyes blazing with determination.
“The main issue we have is predicting his movements,” Florence added, her arms still crossed over her chest.
“Okay so why did he do that to us?” Ziana asked shakily, the heat coming from the phoenix rising.
“If you’d asked me that seven nights ago, I would’ve told you it was madness, but after this last massacre it se
ems to be deliberate,” Florence explained, and then a thought came to Valeria. This would be the perfect opportunity to tell them about the voice, but as she opened her mouth to speak, Ziana grabbed her thigh under the table. Valeria tried not to flinch away as the phoenix fire radiated near her skin.
“This thing’s odious actions have caused an extreme ripple effect with other
demons,” Florence went on, “He can control these other creatures just as the Demon Wolf did and they seem to be organizing.”
“And before you say anything, we have already pleaded with the council, and the verdict is the same,” Callan stated.
“Which brings us to the current issue, the latest massacre,” Xander said, the images of the bloody water returned to the projection, “Your friend, Edith had a vision of this tragedy a couple of hours before it happened and then a couple nights later, she saw the survivor Kaia die as well.”
“What we know is that Kaia was meant to survive, that is the only pattern he has maintained throughout his...career,” Callan continued grimacing at the end of his sentence.
“We suspect that there might be another killing because of this,” Florence spoke up, “or perhaps a backlash of some sort.”
“Why would there be a backlash?” Ziana mumbled.
“Because his pattern has been disrupted. He’s mad, right? This could cause him to lash out,” Valeria explained as the entire table turned to look at her with combined expressions of surprise and awe. Her mom was beaming in pride as she pointed to Valeria.
“Exactly.”
“Alright, that’s all we have right now,” Xander said, standing up from his seat, “You’re all dismissed.”
The members of the A Team shuffled off to their offices at their Captains orders except for Callan and Florence who stayed where they were.
“Come on, Ziana. Let’s get your training started,” Callan said as he stood from his seat and stretched.
“Right now?” Ziana asked in surprise, but she stood as well.
“You think another time would be better?” Callan retorted in evident amusement.
“No. I just- Alright,” Ziana stumbled before following Callan out of the room, and Valeria assumed they’d be heading to the training rooms.
“Can I see the mark again?” Valeria asked her mom once they were alone.
“Of course,” Florence replied with a smile and beckoned for Valeria to follow her to her office. Nebby was sitting on the desk, looking bored and like she had been dozing, but she perked up to glare at Valeria, “Now I know you got into my drawer the other day, why don’t you open it?”
“You knew?” Valeria asked in shock, and Florence just smirked at her.
“Honestly, Valeria, I was a spy. Don’t you think I would know when someone went through my drawers?” Florence didn’t look upset at all but amused.
“You were a spy?” Valeria asked, and Florence waved her hand in dismissal as she opened the drawer and pulled out the grey files. She flipped through one of them before pulling out a drawing of the mark. Valeria took it and began examining it, trying to memorize every detail. They sat together in the office, talking over the case, and her mom guiding her through how the files were organized. Before she knew it two hours had passed, and Valeria’s legs were cramping up.
“I’m impressed with you,” Florence said as she watched Valeria, “You caught on today. I’ll make a GSI Agent out of you yet.”
“Thanks,” Valeria replied and felt a warm rush at the praise, “Can I take a picture of this?”
“No, but you’re allowed to memorize it,” Florence replied, “No files are allowed off this floor.”
“Can I draw it then and then take it back?” Valeria asked, and her mother grinned at her.
“Technically yes,” Florence responded before she gently took the picture of the mark from Valeria’s hand and set it down on the desk next to Nebby, “I have a proposal for you.”
“Okay,” Valeria replied nervously.
“I know you previously have shown no interest in blood magic, but I’m offering to teach it to you,” Her mother said in Vampiric, and Valeria was confused as to why her mother switched languages on her. Typically if her mom spoke to her in Vampiric, she was in trouble, or something serious happened.
“But I failed the blood magic test,” Valeria responded in Vampiric.
“So did I. I didn’t like how they ran the test,” Florence countered with a smile and Valeria’s eyes widened. She never expected her mom to have failed anything, especially blood magic.
“I didn’t like it either,” Valeria said with a smile, “but why do you want to teach me?”
“You have a talent for blood magic, a control that none of your siblings possess. You share the same aptitude for it as I do,” Florence explained as she took Valeria’s hand in her own, “If you would like, I’m offering to be your mentor and teach you blood magic as I know it, but it is completely alright if you do not wish to.”
Valeria was shocked, she never thought she was good at blood magic, and she never thought of learning it beyond the basics, “I would actually really like that.”
“Brilliant,” Florence beamed at her,” Then we can start your training tomorrow.”
“Recruiting your daughter to do your evil bidding, Florence I thought better of you,” Callan snarked as he came into the room and Ziana was standing behind him with a peculiar look on her face.
“Oh save me from your castigation,” Florence said with a huff back to speaking Beastin, and they bickered for a short time before Florence dismissed her partner at a look of her communicator, “Oh look, now they will be late for the carriage.”
“I’ll take them down,” Callan volunteered uncharacteristically, and Florence raised an eyebrow at him, “Come on.”
The ride down to the ground floor was silent, Ziana seemed to be thinking over something, and Callan just stared straight ahead. As Valeria and Ziana made their way towards where Kamilah was waiting for them with the other GSI interns, the wolf grabbed her arm.
“V, wait,” Callan said, stopping Valeria in her tracks. Her sister’s mate ran a hand over his pulled back hair and shuffled his feet.
“Yeah?”
“Did you say something to Emalia last night?” Callan asked he looked uncomfortable asking, “She got home from her night out with you, and she seemed upset.”
“Upset?” Valeria said softly the memory of the hurt expression on her sisters face flashing in her mind, “I-I um.”
“You know what? I don’t care what happened. Just apologize,” Callan crossed his arms and looked even more uncomfortable and maybe even a little vulnerable, “I can’t stand to see Emalia unhappy. And she’s been really...uh emotional the past phase and having a hard time. When she’s upset so am I so could you fix it...please.”
“I’ll try. I’m sorry Callan, I didn’t mean to hurt her feelings I j-”
“No, no. I don’t care, you don’t have to explain yourself to me. Just fix it,” Callan retorted before he turned on his heels and walked away.
◆◆◆
They rode in silence back to the Grey Academy, there was so much to think about, and Valeria kept thinking about what Callan said about how upset Emalia was. Once the carriage stopped, Ziana had bolted towards their dorms and started rummaging through a box with ‘Mia’ written across it. Valeria had totally forgotten about Ziana’s old partner.
“What are you looking for?”
“Her journal,” Ziana replied, tearing through the contents of the box, “before they took her stuff away. I took her journal. To try to understand why she killed herself but it’s written in Vampiric.”
“And?” She asked, completely confused as to where this was going.
“And you can read Vampiric right?”
“I’m a royal vampire, of course, I speak Vampiric,” Valeria responded.
“Princess I need you to read it. By the Creator, are you always this slow?” Ziana scoffed as she continued rifling through th
e box in her search.
“You know, typically when you’re asking someone for help, you’re nice to them,” Valeria crossed her arms and glared down at her partner who just rolled her eyes.
“Whatever, don’t you want to know what happened?” Ziana asked, “She didn’t kill herself. I just know she didn’t and I think someone from Grey Academy killed her. The voice in the hall was the Demon King, and I think he or whoever he’s controlling killed her.”
“But why would they kill her?”
“Mia was a, and she would wake up randomly in the hallways. I think she heard something like we did,” Ziana explained, “In the last night of her life, she was scared of something, and she wouldn’t tell me of what. I think it was the Demon King or the halfling he spoke about or whatever else was in that hall.”
“Why wouldn’t you tell someone?” Valeria asked.
“Because I thought she really did until I heard the voices and if we tell the team now, then they could give it away that we know about them and whoever hurt Mia will disappear forever. We will never get a chance like this again.”
Valeria stared at the phoenix for a long moment, “Well we are already this deep into the lie might as well see it through till the end and pray to the Creator that my mother never finds out.”
“That a girl, Princess,” Ziana smirked, “Now if I could actually find the damned thing.”
“What are you two looking for?” A familiar voice asked, causing Valeria to jump from her spot on the bed. When she turned around, Kamilah was standing in the doorway, a curious expression on her face.
“Nothing because I just found it,” Ziana exclaimed before she stood triumphantly with a red leather bound journal in her hand. A sudden change came over Kamilah’s face, and she snatched the journal away, “Hey! Give it back, that’s mine!”
“Ziana, I don’t think it’s a good idea for you to hold onto something like this and I know Healer Anai would agree with me that this won’t help with your recovery from Mia’s suicide,” Kamilah said with an ugly smile on her lips, “Now why don’t you two join your roommates in the dining hall?”
Beastmora- The Golden Six Page 12