What's next?
Chapter 20 - Aequa Nox
Chapter 21
by 
PhoenixAuthor
Cassius Benning's mansion was lit up prominently for the gala. The place was enormous, a monument to the fact that some people just had more money than they knew what to do with. The mansion seemed to draw heavily upon Greek architecture, with lots of marble and lots of pillars.
The mansion sat atop a hill, and the limo that Julian currently sat in had wound its' way up a long, winding road to reach the mansion. Sitting beside Julian was Asha, who looked some mixture of determined and nervous, while Alexandra sat opposite them, her porcelain face unreadable as usual. The vampire Highsire wore a long flowing blue gown with a wide V neckline baring plenty of snowy cleavage. It was an old fashioned style of gown, closely fitted around the torso before flaring out voluminously at the waist, not unlike something a medieval princess might wear. She had part of her black hair done up in a crown-like braid glittering with blue jewels, the rest of it flowing down her back.
As for Asha beside him, she wore a more modern type of dress, an off the shoulder glittery purple dress with a sweetheart neckline flaunting ample dark cleavage and a slit up the leg. Her dark brown hair was swept over one of her shoulders, and she was fidgeting with the heavy bronze ring that Romero had given her earlier tonight. On Alexandra's wrist was another gift from Romero, a gleaming silver bracelet set with diamonds. From what Julian had heard, Alexandra had supplied the bracelet. Ironic, that the diamond in danger was entering the gala with diamonds on her bracelet, but for all he knew, Alexandra had done that intentionally.
As for Julian, he wore a dark green suit jacket, a button up white shirt, and a pair of black pants. He didn't really have a lot of formal clothes on hand and he might have forgotten to try to find something formal. Romero's old-fashioned silver key unlocking charm was in the inner pocket of his suit jacket, and beneath the button-up white shirt, Julian was wearing the simple pendant that was his protection charm for the evening.
The limousine, driven by one of Alexandra's vampires, pulled up to the top of the hill, and Julian glanced out the window at all of the other limousines that were moving through the large circle that sat outside Benning's luxurious grand entrance.
"Everyone ready for this?" Julian asked, glancing between the vampire and the jengu.
"Quite." Alexandra said, baring her fangs. "I'd ask you to be quick with your investigations, I am particularly eager to rip out the throat of our host this evening."
"Trust me, we're not going to be wasting time." Julian shook his head, and Asha nodded agreement.
"I don't want to spend another minute more than necessary here." Asha shivered, and Julian had to agree. There was something imposing about the vast, marble mansion with its' bright lights out front and the darkness of the night around it. This did not feel like a good place to spend time.
Their limo pulled up to the steps, and Julian opened the door, stepping out onto the stone brick curb. He offered Asha his hand, and she took it, climbing out of the limo a bit haphazardly. He didn't think she was the type who wore dresses often. She stepped past Julian, and Julian turned back to the limo to offer Alexandra his hand as well. The vampire took it, her ruby red lips quirking into a smirk as she did so. They were glossier than usual tonight, making them look even more plump.
Alexandra released his hand, and Julian shut the limo door. The vampire at the wheel set off, and Julian looked up at the mansion. Marble steps led the way up to the grandiose entrance, which was a wide portico held up by elaborate marble pillars with swirling designs at the base. Julian exhaled heavily, and he offered Asha his arm. She took it, and the trio set off up the stairs. Initially, Julian had just planned on driving the Cutlass up here, but Alexandra had called last minute and invited them to ride in the limo with her, and Julian had agreed quickly. Seeing this place now, Julian was very glad he had. There wasn't exactly parking, everybody here was being dropped off by a driver.
They were in a whole other weight class of wealth here, and Julian felt deeply out of his element.
"This place is nuts." Asha muttered to him, and Julian gave a noise of agreement. Wealth oozed out of everything, from the smooth marble steps to the topiaries flanking them, the grand portico, the men in tuxedos and red vests who were clearly Benning's employees checking invitations. It was all just so much.
Their trio reached the front doors, and one of the men nodded at Alexandra.
"Lady Blackwood." he inclined his head. "Lord Benning is very grateful for you attending tonight."
"I'm sure." Alexandra replied coldly. "I have my invitation here, and these two are my guests."
She waved a flippant hand towards Julian and Asha, and Julian pulled the two invitations he'd received out of his suit jacket pocket, the one on the left, not the right one containing the unlocking charm.
The red-vested man took all three invitations, looking them over. He waved a hand over them, his eyes flaring orange. A previously invisible orange symbol on all three invitations flared brightly, and the man gave a nod.
"Excellent. Please, enjoy your evening at tonight's Aequa Nox Gala." the man said with a polite smile.
"Aequa Nox?" Julian whispered to Alexandra as they walked past the men at the front.
"Equal Night. It's the Latin roots of equinox." she answered with a roll of her piercing blue eyes. "Benning has a flair for the dramatic, as always."
The front doors led into a ballroom bustling with people. They were all smartly dressed, and Julian was glad to see that his thrown together outfit didn't seem too out of place. Sure, a lot of guys were in full matching suits, but there was definitely a lower bar for the men here than the women, who were almost entirely in dazzling gowns. As for the ballroom itself, it was a large square room with hardwood flooring, though it was a luxurious, rich looking hardwood floor mostly comprised of dark woods with some golden decoration mixed in. A staircase rose up in the left side of the ballroom, leading to the spacious balcony overlooking the ballroom, which also had quite a few people milling around on it. On the right wall was a large arched doorway leading off into another room. Julian couldn't see what room from the angle of the entryway, but people were flowing through the doorway so it must be another room that was open to party guests. And of course, there was a massive chandelier hanging from the ceiling, completely impossible to miss. It was lit up and casting a warm yellow glow over the whole ballroom.
"I didn't expect this many people." Julian admitted.
"Benning's guest list is exclusive, but not short." Alexandra said with a tsk.
"We'll make our way around the parts of the mansion open to the party first." Julian said quietly to Asha. "Once we've made the round, we can try and slip off."
She nodded back at him. "I'm worried about how big this place is. We might have a lot of places to search."
"I think what we're looking for really can only be in one of two places." Julian shook his head. "Either his office or a freaky underground lair. Has to be one of the two."
Asha laughed softly, nodding. "Good point."
Alexandra turned to the two of them. "I need to go and socialize, unfortunately. Shall we meet up here in an hour?"
"Works for me." Julian said. "If we don't show, we need more time."
Alexandra gave a curt nod, and then she turned and melted away into the crowd. Well, she joined the crowd, rather. She remained strikingly visible, cutting a path through the crowd as she seemingly went in search of someone she knows.
"So. Ballroom first or do you wanna head off?" Julian wondered, gesturing to the doorway. There was another doorway beneath the balcony they could go as well, but there was a whole crowd of people between them and it, so it might be easier to just take a right.
"Let's leave this room behind." Asha shook her head. "So much opulence."
"Tell me about it." Julian grimaced. "This ballroom is like 3 or 4 of my apartments."
Asha laughed. "Yeah, same."
Alas, the next room they walked into wasn't hurting for opulence. It was a large kitchen, kind of, except Julian had a guess this was some kind of like... guest kitchen. This didn't seem like one where food was actually prepared. There was lots of counter space where food, mostly snacks, had been laid out. Or, no, they'd be hors d'oeuvre, wouldn't they? Snacks were for peasants like him. The kitchen also had a full bar, which was an indicator this might not be the actual kitchen. There were plenty of people over at the bar, quite a few taking food from the laid out food, though Julian had also spotted waiters walking around with trays of food, so maybe there were options.
A woman caught Julian's eye, mainly because she was studying him. She had dirty blonde hair pulled back into a bun, and she wore a beautiful amber-colored dress that very much emphasized her prominent bust. She seemed to have a full, voluptuous figure from the way that dress was clinging to her, and she looked to be in her late thirties or so, maybe early forties.
"That woman is staring at me." Julian muttered to Asha.
"Who?" Asha wondered.
"Over there by the bar." Julian told her quietly. "The orange-ish dress."
"Oh, yeah, she absolutely is." Asha agreed after a moment, biting her bottom lip thoughtfully. "You think she's trying to be our third?"
Julian laughed. "Seems unlikely."
Asha shrugged, smiling mischievously. "You never know."
The woman in the amber dress started moving, coming towards them, and the anti-social part of Julian yearned to run off. He hated big crowds like this, part of why he usually steered clear of the Glade and other nightclubs.
"Wanna bet ten bucks?" Asha muttered.
"You're on." he muttered back.
The woman walked up, and she looked at Julian with a warm blue gaze. "You don't see too many of our kind at events like this, do you?"
With a jolt, he realized she meant werewolves. He could smell her, she was a werewolf just like him.
"True." Julian agreed, having no idea if that was indeed true. "I know I'm not exactly comfortable at things like this."
"Nor am I." chuckled the woman. "Downsides of being a respected Alpha, I suppose."
With a jolt, Julian realized he knew this woman. Or at least, he was pretty sure he knew her name.
"You're not Cordelia Sterling, are you?" Julian asked curiously. The woman's lips curved into a smile.
"So my reputation precedes me." she said with a wink. She had a husky, playful kind of voice, and she was toned and fit, something that wasn't the case with all of the guests at this thing.
"I guess it does." Julian smiled. He had no idea who this woman was, other than the fact that her name had been on the list of Niamh Sinclair's visitors.
"Puts me at a disadvantage, I'm afraid." Cordelia raised her eyebrows. "I'm sorry, but I don't know either of your names."
"Julian Anderson." Julian nodded at the werewolf woman.
"Asha." Asha smiled.
"Asha... Anderson?" Cordelia inquired, looking between the two of them and their linked arms.
"Guilty." Asha giggled, holding up her hand. She did have a ring on the proper finger, though it was the heavy bronze ring from Romero, not exactly a typical wedding ring. Asha's lie surprised Julian, but he supposed she was worried about someone recognizing her as Amaya's sister. He didn't think Amaya was connected to these people other than being a favorite of Benning's at the Petal and Thorn, but better safe than sorry, he supposed.
"Nice to see a happy young couple at one of these." Cordelia nodded. "Too often it's a bunch of wealthy old bastards."
Julian found himself laughing. "It does seem to be the main demographic."
"Tell me about it." she muttered. "Which pack are you with? Or are you an Alpha I haven't heard of? You're not Jesse Beckett's replacement, are you?"
"Ah, no. I'm a lone wolf." Julian admitted. "No pack for me."
"A stray?" Cordelia asked in surprise. "Sorry, I just assumed you were part of some well-connected pack to be here."
"Nope. Just a friend in high places." Julian shrugged.
"Must be some friend to be able to get you two invitations." Cordelia said, lifting an eyebrow.
"Lady Blackwood can be very generous." Asha said, her voice a lot more cheerful and light than he was used to.
"A vampire Highsire giving out invitations to a stray werewolf and... I'm sorry, what is it you are?" Cordelia wondered, looking at Asha.
"Jengu." Asha answered with a sly wink. "Julian just had to have himself an exotic wife."
Julian looked at Asha incredulously. "Don't say it like that!"
Asha and Cordelia both laughed, and Cordelia grinned at the 'couple'.
"You two are fun." the werewolf told them with a laugh. "How on earth did you convince Alexandra Blackwood to get you invitations?"
"Oh, my husband here did her a very big favor." Asha explained, patting Julian's arm. "It's quite confidential, you see, but she offered us a favor in return, and it's always been my dream to attend an event like this one. It's like a fairytale."
"You used a favor from a Highsire to get your wife into a gala?" Cordelia asked incredulously. "She must have you on a leash!"
Asha smirked at Julian, who found his face growing hot. "Yeah, she, uh... she's wanted this for a long time."
Cordelia chuckled, giving Asha an approving nod. "Well done, Mrs. Anderson."
"I do my best." Asha shrugged, leaning her head against Julian's shoulder.
"You enjoy your night then. Feel free to say hi if you spot me again." Cordelia said, and Julian and Asha both gave her quick goodbyes as she headed off into the ballroom.
"You are insane." Julian muttered to Asha after Cordelia was sufficiently out of earshot.
"Oh, come on, don't tell me you didn't have fun." Asha scoffed, but she was grinning. "Your blushing was cute."
"Yeah, thanks for just springing the fake wife thing on me." Julian grumbled. "I almost choked."
"I figured it was best not to use my own last name here." Asha sighed. "I don't know how many of these people Amaya knows."
"Yeah, I suspected that might be what you were thinking." Julian nodded. "Would have been nice to get a heads-up though."
"Consider that your heads-up then, hubby." Asha said teasingly. She patted his arm, and they continued their walking through the party.
"Do you know what Benning looks like?" Julian asked Asha after they headed out through the open French doors into the backyard, where a huge swimming pool dominated most of the space within the line of hedges squaring off a little backyard from the rest of the property. Tables and chairs had been set up out here, and some people were out here enjoying the moonlit night. It wasn't quite the full moon, but it was this week and the moon was big and round.
"I don't." Asha shook her head. "I'm guessing pompous old guy, probably in a fancy suit."
"Yeah, that'd be my guess too. The problem there of course is that that's every other guy at this party, pretty much." Julian muttered.
"Tell me about it." Asha agreed.
As they wandered through the mansion, it became apparent that the downstairs rooms open to the party guests were laid out in a roughly circular layout. The ballroom was where everyone entered, with the path to the right leading through the kitchen and bar out into the backyard, where you could either double back or go through the other set of open doors into a cushy theater-type room with lots of circular little tables for guests to sit at while a full orchestra performed on stage. At a glance, they seemed to be mainly fey performers. Lots of tall, willowy figures and a couple of them were sporting looks indicative of beings like dryads or nymphs. One of the performers holding a flute was a sylph, and Julian wondered idly if them being a wind spirit playing a wind instrument gave them some kind of advantage. The theater room led into a dining room, which was what the other door in the ballroom connected to as well.
The dining room was the least populated room, and Julian took Asha and led her into a secluded corner. "Alright, I think we need to try to get upstairs and slip off from the indicated party spots."
"Definitely." Asha nodded. "His office and bedroom are probably upstairs if I had to guess."
"Yup. Potential basement evil lair would be below our feet though." Julian mentioned, and they both reflexively looked down at the floor.
"We'll try that after if the office doesn't pan out." Asha decided, and Julian agreed.
"Let's go then." he said, and they emerged back out into the ballroom, on the opposite end of it from before.
They made their way for the stairs, and had climbed two of the steps when the background orchestral music filtering in from the theater room suddenly stopped. The chandelier went out, the candlelight dimmed, and for just a moment the room was in darkness, before a bright spotlight lit up, illuminating a man standing at the railing of the balcony.
"Alexandra was right about that flair for the dramatic." Julian muttered in Asha's ear, and he heard a faint snicker from the jengu.
"Guests!" a booming voice exclaimed, and Julian took the time to study the man who was speaking. He was indeed older, probably sixties or seventies. It could be hard to tell with powerful magic users how old they really were, as several had methods to extend their lives, but not in an immortality kind of way. They could just sometimes tack extra years on, which was why some powerful witches and warlocks just looked really really old. He had neatly combed white hair and a finely trimmed white beard. He wore a maroon tailcoat over a black tuxedo, and the cuffs of that maroon tailcoat were vivid gold that sparkled in the spotlight currently on him.
"I thank you for attending my Autumnal Aequa Nox Gala. We have quite an interesting night planned for you, and if you have not yet made it in to see the orchestra I have hired for the evening, please do. They are truly excellent." Cassius Benning smiled broadly. He held out his hand, and flames curled at the tips of his fingers, swirling together into a blazing fireball that crackled in his palm.
"Please, enjoy yourselves. I don't expect any of you will forget tonight very quickly." Cassius said with a wink. "And we have a rare treat tonight, as the esteemed Lady Alexandra Blackwood is somewhere among the guests at this very moment. If you see the lovely Highsire, please, extend a welcome. Hopefully, we can convince her to come to the Winter Solstice Gala too!"
There was a tittering of laughter from the crowd, and Julian could practically imagine the scathing look on Alexandra's face at this very moment. Benning flicked the hand that had the fireball in it, and the fire burst out into countless little flares that flew throughout the room, reigniting all of the candles that had gone out. The chandelier came back on, and the spotlight faded.
Julian looked to Asha, and he saw naked anger on the jengu's face. She looked downright murderous, and Julian squeezed her arm.
"We'll get him, Asha." Julian whispered in her ear. "Just have to play pretend a little bit longer."
She nodded slowly, and she seemed to force her face to adopt a more neutral expression.
"Listening to him talk, the way he was so flamboyant, so obnoxious..." Asha seethed. "We need to end this."
"I agree." Julian said. They continued their way up the steps, and Julian hoped they didn't run into Benning himself. The upstairs balcony was a nice spot with white railings, overlooking the entirety of the ballroom, with large glass doors leading into a lounge. Lots of couches decorated the room, all of them looking like they cost more than Julian's entire apartment and everything in it. There were closed doors at all sides of the room, and Julian noted that the doors were unguarded, though the room being full of people might make this a bit tricky.
"Ah, hello there." a smarmy voice said, and Julian turned towards it fearing the worst. Thankfully, it was not Benning. From the way Asha's tensed shoulders relaxed, she must have worried the same. It was a pale man around Julian's age with neat black hair combed straight back, wearing a black suit with a black undershirt. Whole lot of black with this guy. His eyes were a stone gray, and Julian saw the man's eyes flick towards Asha's cleavage no less than three times within a few seconds.
"Hello. Who are you?" Julian asked, unable to keep all of the dislike out of his voice.
"August Bridges, my friend." the man grinned. He seemed to expect some response to that name, but Julian had never heard it before. He glanced towards Asha, who looked just as confused.
"Um, nice to meet you." Julian said. "I'm Julian."
"And I'm Asha. His wife." Asha said with a glare at August, who's mouth curled downwards just slightly at the edges. He didn't seem to like that very much.
"It seems as if you might not have heard of me." August Bridges chuckled, the displeasure gone all at once. "I am the once apprentice of our very own host, Cassius Benning. Now, however, I run my own empire, so to speak."
"So, you're a warlock, too?" Julian asked with as much politeness as he could.
August chuckled, holding up a hand. "I am not just a warlock, though yes, that is the order I belong to. Cassius and I, we are of a higher power, you see. Warlocks at the very height of power such as ours can barely be called a warlock at all, can we?"
"I, uh, I suppose not." Julian shrugged. "I'm not too experienced with magic users like that, so I'll take your word for it."
"What is it you are then, my friends?" August inquired.
"I'm a werewolf." Julian answered.
"And I'm a jengu." Asha put in.
"Ah, a jengu? Not too many of those around this city, is there?" August asked with a smile.
Asha's hand around Julian's arm tightened, but she wore a smile on her face. "I'm the only one I know of in Los Angeles, actually."
"Lucky man, then." August winked. "A lot of men would kill for such a gorgeous, exotic woman like your wife."
August nudged Julian, like he expected some kind of kinship there.
"I've never been too caught up in what she was, to be honest. I didn't marry her because she was a jengu." Julian said coldly.
"Of course, of course." August chuckled. "Though I'm sure it didn't hurt matters."
Julian was seriously considering punching this guy. It had been one thing when Asha joked about being exotic with Cordelia Sterling, but this guy really seemed to think Asha was some kind of rare good because she was a jengu. The way he kept stealing glances at Asha's chest sure was not helping his case either.
"I'm sorry, Mr. Bridges, we do need to be going. We're meeting with a friend of ours, and we shouldn't be late." Asha cut in, squeezing Julian's arm warningly.
"Ah, I'm sure they'll understand." August laughed. "Why don't we get a drink?"
"I don't know, Lady Blackwood doesn't seem like the type to wait around patiently." Asha said like she was worried. August's eyes widened. He looked behind him, and his eyes landed on Alexandra, who was sat on one of the couches sipping something that could feasibly be blood or wine while talking with an old woman Julian didn't recognize.
"Ah, I see. No, no, you should definitely attend to her." August cleared his throat. "We can get that drink later."
"Can't wait." Julian said, resisting the urge to snarl.
"You almost tore his head off." Asha huffed a laugh after they left August Bridges behind.
"Every word he said seemed to piss me off more." Julian admitted. "Especially the way he was talking about you."
Asha sighed. "That, unfortunately, was nothing new. It's no revelation to me that jengu are sought after here. It's the reason Amaya was so insanely popular at the Petal and Thorn."
"I don't know, that just seems crazy." Julian shook his head.
"Yes, well, we don't all belong to one of the most common groups of supernatural, do we, Mr. Werewolf?" Asha raised an eyebrow.
"I guess not." he admitted.
"It's nice though, having a fake husband so ready to defend me." Asha said, fanning her face playfully.
Julian rolled his eyes. "It wasn't about that. He was just being an asshole."
"That he was." Asha agreed. "Now, we need to figure out how we're getting out of this room."
The upstairs lounge had plenty of doors leading out, but there were too many people in the room to make a sneaky exit through any of them. Julian's eyes fell upon Alexandra, and an idea occurred to him.
"I've got a plan." Julian said thoughtfully. "Go wait by that door over there, I'll join you in a minute."
"Will do." Asha nodded, unlinking her arm from his and drifting away. Julian moved towards Alexandra, who was still chatting to the old woman.
"Ah, one minute, Charlotte." Alexandra nodded at the woman. She stood, and Julian led her over to a secluded spot a few feet away.
"You know her?" Julian asked, briefly diverted.
"Yes, we used to attend parties together in the 60s." Alexandra nodded. Julian blinked, looking between the old woman over on the sofa and the vampire Highsire in front of him who looked just shy of 21.
"OK, well, that horrifying thought aside, do you think you could make some kind of speech or something over in that direction? We need to sneak out of this room." Julian asked.
"I can do that." the Highsire nodded. "Make your exit quickly."
Alexandra returned to Charlotte's side, and Julian made a beeline for Asha. They stood in the back of the room, standing beside a closed wooden door, as Alexandra rose to her feet and crossed over to the entrance of the room. She cleared her throat, and everyone in the room turned to look at her as she began to speak.
Julian didn't wait around, he leaned backwards and pushed open the door. He ushered Asha through it, and then slipped out of the lounge himself, slowly closing the door behind him. A glance around showed that he and Asha were in a velvet-carpeted hallway with large paintings adorning the walls, hung along in consistent intervals with some shelves displaying various other artifacts like pottery or stuff like that.
"That went well." Asha exhaled.
"For now." Julian nodded. "Let's see if we can find that office."
They moved carefully through the labyrinth of hallways, stopping to peek around corners as they made their way through. Julian went to check the first door they came across, but Asha caught at his hand before he grabbed the handle.
"Let me." she said, and held up her left hand next to the handle. She looked thoughtfully at her ring for a moment before nodding at Julian.
"All clear." she said.
"What was that about?" Julian demanded.
"Romero said the ring vibrates if it picks up on some kind of security spell that it could disarm. No vibrations means we're good to go." Asha explained.
"Huh, that's cool." Julian said as he opened the door. It opened to reveal a quiet sitting room with a fireplace and huge bookshelves set into the walls.
"Nope, not an office." Julian said, and closed the door. The search continued for an unfortunately long time. There was just so many rooms in this damn mansion. They found bathrooms, they found bedrooms, they found more lounge areas, another sitting room with a huge window, a couple of staff closets, and even a full library before Julian finally opened up a door to reveal an ornate office.
A large wooden desk dominated the middle of the room, and the room was decorated in quite a classic style, looking like something out of some kind of early 1900s period piece. Other than the computer on the desk, that is.
"Oh, here we go." Julian said, and he and Asha ducked inside the office, closing the door behind them. Julian went straight to the computer, and to his amazement, he clicked and it opened up with no password needed.
"Sometimes it's great how old some supernatural people are." Julian grinned over at Asha. "No concept of cybersecurity."
Asha laughed. "I'm gonna search the rest of the room with this ring, see if I can find anything locked and magically protected."
"Sounds good to me." Julian nodded as he began to look through the computer. Not much going on in the files, but when he opened up the email, it didn't take long for his stomach to drop.
"You're shitting me." Julian said as soon as he clicked on the sent folder.
"What?" Asha asked, looking over at him.
"Look at this." Julian exhaled, pointing at the screen. Asha came over and stood beside him, leaning over so she could read the words on the screen.
Good morning gentlemen,
I recall your words when we spoke last week, where you asked me to keep you informed if I found any impures. To my delight, I have found two. As always, be careful when approaching them, they can be tricky. One of the ones I have discovered can change his form at will, changing his very face to avoid discovery. From my research, I believe iron will work against this breed of impure, but it is hard to know for sure. The other is some kind of aquatic creature who is working closely with this shapechanger, and they seem to be conspiring to invade my home.
They must have discovered that I have aided you. If there is anything you could do to help me, I would greatly appreciate it. I have increased my home security, but I still feel unsafe knowing I am the target of these monsters.
Thank you
"This is..." Asha said, stunned.
"Yeah. That's Miguel and Amaya he's talking about." Julian scowled.
"I don't understand." Asha shook her head. "He's talking about impures and monsters, what-?"
"He's gotta be pretending to be human to work with the killers." Julian shook his head, pointing at the name the email was addressed to. "This guy, Garrett James, he must be one of them."
"See if he's got any other emails." Asha encouraged, and Julian did so.
He looked quickly through Benning's sent folder and found several other emails sent to this Garrett James guy, one of which must have been Benning reaching out to them for the first time. Julian's hand tightened into a fist seeing what the email was about. In the email, Benning explained that he'd found a couple who were monsters masquerading as human. It took Julian only a few seconds to realize he'd meant the Russell couple, Robert and Anna Russell, the first two victims of the serial killers. The first email, however, had five email addresses on it. Not just Garrett James, but also a guy named Declan Sorensen, Connor Walsh, Nathan Vaughn, and Tom Goldstein.
"There's five killers? I thought there were only two. Pig mask and donkey mask." Asha frowned.
"Yeah, I thought so too." Julian frowned. Something about that list of names bothered him, but he couldn't put his finger on it. Garrett, Declan, Connor, Nathan, and... Tom. Why did the name Tom sound familiar?
Julian clicked out of the sent folder and went instead to the inbox, scrolling through hastily looking for any of those five names. It took him a moment, but he found one from Nathan Vaughn, talking about a witch girl that they had found themselves. Abruptly, Julian realized what must have had happened. Somehow, Benning had found this group of guys who were trying to hunt down supernaturals, probably a bunch of guys who had overheard something somehow, or knew a little bit too much. They probably hadn't actually done any killing before, but for some reason, Benning seemed to have turned them into killers. He'd dangled the Russells in front of them like bait, then sat back and let them do their thing.
This newly formed group of killers, high off of killing a pair of werewolves using the silver Benning had recommended in his initial email to them, had started hunting down others. Julian found emails talking about a water creature they'd found, along with the witch girl. That was Marina Davis and Jenna Downey, the next two victims. With a group of cold-blooded killers created, it was all too easy for Benning to sic them on Miguel and Amaya when he found out they knew too much.
Julian clicked into an email from Connor Walsh and froze. In the email, he told Benning about a vampire girl they had found. Benning had replied to it, telling them about aconite, and how it could be used to poison a vampire, making their bodies shrivel up like they hadn't eaten in days. It took Julian all of a second to realize they meant Corinne. And at once, the name Tom snapped into place. That had been the guy with the crossbow he'd encountered when looking for Corinne. Two more guys had shown up, and Julian had talked all three into leaving using his badge. And Corinne... she'd told him there was five guys total.
Julian sat back in the chair, running his hands through his hair.
"What is it?" Asha demanded.
"That email... it's about Corinne. I talked to these fucking guys." Julian said in disbelief. "I pulled out my badge and told them they were trespassing. They left, didn't come back. If I had known- I could have stopped them. Amaya and Elena would still be alive."
All of this email traffic, Benning had been feeding them everything they needed to know to kill these supernaturals. They knew about the aconite powder from the jump, Benning had told them to use it to stop the 'impures' from being able to take revenge on them. He'd given them weaknesses, there was even a mention of Benning handing over old artifacts he'd found that worked well against impures, which must be the traps they had used on Jenna.
"This is my fault." Julian said, staring into space. "I should have put them down. One of them, he was just a kid, seemed all shaky, I didn't think..."
Asha touched his shoulder, and he looked up at her. He was afraid he'd seen anger written across her face, anger that he could have stopped her sister from dying but hadn't. Instead, he just saw sadness.
"It's not your fault, Julian." Asha shook her head. "You're not clairvoyant."
"I should have known, I should have-" Julian trailed off, realizing. The killers had likely thought he was some human cop, they'd had nothing against humans, so they'd left peaceably. Hell, they probably thought that Julian would just bring Corinne out into the sunlight and she'd die anyway.
"What about the runes?" Asha asked. "Do they mention what those mean at all?"
Julian shook his head. "No, I haven't seen the runes mentioned once. Maybe that was them, and not Benning?"
"But they couldn't even see the runes." Asha frowned.
Julian frowned. "You're right. They didn't see the runes. So... maybe it's not that Benning didn't know, maybe they didn't know?"
"So he put the runes there himself?" Asha asked skeptically. "What for?"
"I don't know." Julian shook his head. "They're fake runes! Why would Benning be putting fake runes on the bodies for no reason?"
"There has to be some reason." Asha shook her head. "Especially if it's Benning doing it."
Julian went back to the emails, but he couldn't find anything else, just the email where Garrett James told Benning about how they'd found Elena. What were they using to sniff out these supernaturals? Julian hadn't even known how to identify them, he'd needed-
Julian jumped to his feet, pulling out his phone and texting Abigail.
She shot back immediately, and Julian dialed the phone number that she had sent over.
"What is it?" Asha demanded.
"Give me a second." Julian shook his head as the phone rang.
"Hello?" a familiar voice asked.
"Athena Harrison?" Julian asked.
"That's me." the Inquisitor's voice replied. "What's up? Did you find something?"
"I have five names for you, I need you to tell me if you recognize any of them." Julian said.
"Sure, let me have them." Athena replied.
"Tom Goldstein, Declan Sorensen, Connor Walsh, Nathan Vaughn, and Garrett James." Julian read off the computer screen.
"Garrett James, I know that one. He used to be an Inquisitor." Athena replied. "We kicked him out though, he was one of those zealots we talked about at the crime scene, the ones who were too eager to kill anything that wasn't human."
"Those five names are the serial killers." Julian told her. "I'm sitting in Cassius Benning's office, he's been emailing back and forth with those five for weeks, he's been feeding them targets and giving them information to help them hunt supernaturals."
"Do you know where they are currently?" Athena asked after a moment, her voice hard.
"No, I don't." Julian shook his head. "And I still have no idea why Benning was doing this."
"Send them an email, tell them to meet somewhere tonight." Athena suggested. "Give me the location, and we'll take care of them."
"I kind of want these fuckers arrested, Athena." Julian hesitated.
"You really think hunting down supernatural beings is going to hold up in court?" Athena demanded.
"They're just normal humans. We can very easily put them in handcuffs." Julian protested. "Surely we can find something to tie them to the multiple murders they've committed."
"You wanna risk that? Them just walking free?" Athena exclaimed.
Julian tilted his head back and forth. "Thanks for your help identifying Garrett James." he finally said.
"Don't do this, Detective." Athena pleaded.
"Don't worry, they're not going to get away." Julian told her, and he hung up on her.
"Everything alright?" Asha asked nervously.
"I hope so." Julian sighed. He reached for the keyboard and sent an email to Garrett James. He tried to emulate Cassius' snooty way of talking as best as he could, but it took him longer than he would have liked to put together something believable. He gave them an address not far from Benning's house, just in case they did know where Benning lived. Then, he lifted his phone and texted the group chat the quick version of what they'd found, along with the address.
"Alright, the gang is going after the killers." Julian sighed. "Let's try and deal with Benning."
Asha nodded, and Julian got up from the office chair. He leaned over to close out the apps he had opened, and Asha moved over to the door, fidgeting impatiently with the ring as Julian hid all traces of his presence.
"Nothing magical you found in here?" Julian asked as he walked over to join her.
"Nope." she shook her head. "Maybe his super secret vault is in his bedroom or something.
"Or his evil basement lair." Julian pointed out. Asha grinned and opened her mouth to respond, but then the door handle turned. Julian and Asha froze, but then Julian immediately relaxed when he saw who poked their head through the door.
"What are you doing here? It's not safe back here." Julian exclaimed. They pushed the door fully open, and Julian looked down in surprise.
Ciara Sinclair reached out, grabbed Asha by the arm, and yanked her towards her. Before Julian could react, Ciara lifted the glowing iron sword in her hand and put it to Asha's neck.
"You shouldn't have come sniffing around, Detective." Ciara said with a smirk.
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