by K. N. Banet
“Oh, yes, we agree,” Corissa said, growling as her eyes drifted over the surrounding woods. “They’ll pay for this.”
“Lord Cassius, your report was well written. It’s enough to make a case. In two weeks’ time, I expect a more thorough write up of this entire investigation and the incident that unfolded tonight.”
Alvina taking charge made me excited. There were always one or two Tribunal members who took a case personally, and she was a good one to have on our side.
“Yes, my Queen,” Cassius agreed, bowing for his aunt.
“All in favor of Alvina’s plan to withhold judgment for two weeks, pending an official investigation?” Corissa smiled, raising her hand.
Everyone did. Not even Oisin could think of an excuse to be an ass this time. Alvina was being too reasonable for him to go against.
31
Chapter Thirty-One
Two Weeks Later
Those two weeks flew by. I got dressed slowly, preparing for the final day. Judgment day. Fourteen days of reports and discussions and interviews. Mygi Pharmaceuticals was torn apart by Cassius and a couple of other Investigators, finding so much incriminating evidence, they couldn’t bother to sort through all of it anymore. It was truly damning.
I put on a suit, something I rarely did. Today, I wasn’t going to the Tribunal chambers as an Executioner or the ruler of the nagas. I was a citizen of the supernatural world who wanted to bear witness to what would play out. They called in others, so I could have this one day off.
I did my hair in curls for once and made sure my makeup was perfect. I was going into the public eye, and I knew people would look at me. The last two weeks of investigation and turmoil were partially my fault.
The last two weeks…
I hadn’t really seen anyone. I wrote up my own report for the events of the investigation, who and what I killed and why. Cassius and Sorcha visited only a few times, and Sorcha more than her husband, since she needed someone to keep her company while he worked so hard.
I also got a visit from two werecats, and that conversation was going with me to the grave. Hasan and Hisao made it clear they would keep the secret of cambions turning vampires into demons if I kept the demonic origins of vampires a secret. I had no reason to disagree, and no one would ever know. Not from me, anyway. I had better things to worry about than vampires potentially getting pissy over their origins.
I had so many better things to worry about.
Once my appearance was what I wanted, I finished getting dressed and threw on my favorite tailored blazer. I left my empty bedroom and walked through my empty house.
Raphael moved out the day we got back from Colorado and hadn’t come around since. He didn’t text. He didn’t call. I didn’t hold it against him. They were stuffed into Cassius’ mansion, constantly harassed by the Tribunal for interviews and talks about what to do under different scenarios. None of the conversations were mine to be a part of, so I stayed clear of it.
It was what I had hoped would happen. He was so busy with them, I could quietly get out of his life.
For two weeks, I knew peace. My fangs didn’t constantly hurt, a relief I had missed out on for months, and I was back to a normalcy I had forgotten. No one interrupted my workouts or my sleep. No need to stock up groceries I didn’t need anymore.
I got into my car and knew I had to see him today. I planned to sit in the back and leave before he had the chance to talk to me, if he even tried.
The drive was quiet. Cassius’ property let me through security, and I parked in his driveway, picking a place where I could easily pull out without getting caught among the dozens of vehicles parked in the drive as well.
Leith was waiting for me at the door, his expression somber.
“Bad news?” I asked.
“No…I didn’t think you would attend. You have been noticeably missing the last two weeks.”
“I’m an Executioner,” I reminded him. “I don’t participate in official investigations.”
“Technically,” he said softly.
“Technically,” I agreed, nodding his direction.
The story was I supported Cassius due to the nature of the investigation, but it was his investigation, not mine. I was also the protective detail for Raphael on paper for the entire affair. No one believed it. Everyone knew when Cassius and I worked together, it was two minds working on the same puzzle. I wasn’t a mindless bit of brawn backing him up.
“Who noticed?” I was curious as I stepped inside, and he closed the front door.
“Excuse me?”
“You said I was noticeably missing. Who noticed?”
“Everyone,” he clarified. “Everyone noticed.” Then he started walking away, off to do his duties but stopped before he left the room. “The basement closet is the door to the Tribunal chambers. They have already left. Proceedings should start any minute.”
“Thank you.” I headed that way. I knew I was pushing the time, potentially running late, but hadn’t wanted to be around for the pre-judgment chit chat.
Opening the closet door, I saw the Tribunal chambers and walked in slowly as people turned to see who had disturbed them. It was quiet, meaning they were all ready to begin. Even the Tribunal members were already in their seats. None of them showed me any displeasure, nor did they call out my sudden appearance. I was allowed to find a seat in the back row with a clear view of the room. The seats were like rounded bleachers, a stadium looking down on the important part of the room. Every seat had a good view, even if some were better than others.
I took a moment to see who was in attendance. There were representatives from every regional werewolf council. There were not one or two but four members of Hasan’s family seated as well. I recognized Hisao immediately, and I recalled the others from seeing their pictures in his home decades ago—the four oldest of his children, the twins, Zuri and Jabari, and the Russian rogue, Mischa. After them, I saw a number of vampires who must have been Masters or Mistresses. There were three kitsune, representing the three regional clans. I saw species in the room I normally only saw at the Market, if I was lucky. One thing was clear.
This was a gathering of rulers.
No wonder they let me sit out being part of the proceedings today but still wanted me to come by. They wanted me here to stand witness as a naga for a couple of new species to be inducted into the Tribunal.
It boded well. The Tribunal wanted information to be disseminated, and rulers were damn good at that. We would make sure everyone in the world knew of the cambions and the sole nephilim before the end of the week.
Thinking of the cambions and Gabrielle, I looked for them. They sat together behind Raphael and Cassius, who were side by side. Both wore nice suits, ready to argue their combined case. They weren’t looking at the Tribunal, though. They were staring at me. Sorcha revealed herself in the crowd and waved. I waved back, then went back to ignoring all of them. She knew what I was doing. She disagreed with it, but she knew and promised she wouldn’t interfere. I had to trust her.
“Today, we’re here to discuss the final judgment in the case of the cambions and nephilim versus Mygi Pharmaceuticals. We are also here to place final judgment on whether to induct the cambions and nephilim formally into the Tribunal’s protection and Law.” Isaiah stood up to make the initial proclamation. “Lord Cassius, Investigator of the Tribunal, has brought forth a case he believes the Tribunal should stand behind in the favor of the cambions and nephilim. We shall allow him to introduce this case to begin the arguments.”
I sank into my seat, getting more comfortable.
Cassius was compelling, describing the awful tortures done to the cambions and the abysmal environments they were kept in, locked in a basement without seeing the sun or having any sort of freedom. They were purposefully left uneducated and told malicious lies to force compliance. The horrors never stopped. They were abused by the researchers, scientists, and security for a number of different reasons and a number of different
ways.
“And in conclusion, we stood here several months ago as Mygi Pharmaceutical’s CEO, Ardghal of the fae, lied to the honorable members of the Tribunal. That alone showed his disrespect for the authority of this governing council and his utter disregard and lack of remorse for what his employees did in a laboratory he sanctioned.” Cassius tossed down his cheat sheet, glaring across the room. “You have brought shame upon your clan, Uncle. They shall spend centuries trying to wash away the blight you have put on their reputations.”
Ardghal said nothing, keeping his head down. The guilty party was already beaten. Cassius’ show of strength was for the others in the room. He was a prince of the fae, Lord by title, and an Investigator of the Tribunal. He wouldn’t soften for anyone, family or no. He would fight for the laws, and he would cut deep every time he had the chance.
“A stirring plea,” Alvina said softly. “Is there any rebuttal?”
No one stood.
Raphael went forward to read touching stories about the ones he was now the leader of. He told a story about a girl kidnapped at ten from her mother then injected with demon blood to activate her powers. He told a story about a man looking forward to a night of fun. Mygi had laced recreational drugs with powdered demon blood to activate his abilities. The innocent humans in that room had been murdered, an accident and a tragedy.
“And then there is Maude,” he said softly, looking up at the Tribunal and putting down the papers he was holding. “She’s not here with us today. She will never be able to join us. She was born and died in that place. Mygi would find human volunteers, normally women who had nowhere else to go. These women were offerings to demons Mygi would summon in hopes to breed more cambions when their other attempts failed. Maude was born in the lab to one of these women and injected with demon blood within twenty-four hours of her birth, activating her powers very young. Her mother died shortly after birth.”
“How?” the little female witch asked, her face pale at what she was hearing. “How did her mother die?”
“She hung herself,” Raphael answered. “Maude grew up a little feral. We weren’t allowed to coddle her or show her affection. They wanted to see what a cambion could do from such a young age.” Raphael turned to me and pointed. “If it weren’t for Kaliya Sahni, Maude would have never felt the grass under her feet. She would have never seen the stars overhead. They would have kept her locked in that hell hole for her entire immortal life. She was thirteen when she was gunned down, right after getting out of the laboratory. And for Maude, I ask that all of these men be given the death penalty.”
His pointed finger shifted to the Mygi board members and head scientists left behind from two weeks of captures and raids.
“A baby,” Raphael whispered. “She was a little girl who had no one to love her. We tried our best. She wasn’t allowed to live with us until she was six. She was behind, not because she was a cambion, but because she had no one to teach her as any child needs.”
“What happened during the escape?” Hasan asked very quietly. “You had all the cambions, and she was separated?”
“Maude could be…dangerous,” Raphael admitted. “Since I never had the chance to ask her, I can only assume she saw one of the people who treated her the worst. She was free for the first time in her life, and I believe she took the chance to act like the older cambions. She got separated as she went after someone who hurt her. Kaliya found both her and Gabrielle as she left the lab behind us. They were outside when a group of guards who also escaped opened fire on them. Kaliya was injured, and Maude was killed.”
“Tragedy,” Hasan murmured. I remembered Paden’s words. Hasan loved family, and Maude had been denied that. Right when there had been a chance for her to be free, to build those bonds with her people, that chance had been cruelly taken away from her. “An unnecessary tragedy. I’m glad today, we have justice for the victims of our overconfidence and blind trust. We didn’t look closely enough, believing what Mygi told us about their research. We all hope to better our people, you see. Mygi fooled us, and for that, I offer the deepest sympathies of this council.”
I listened as more was discussed. The entirety of Mygi Pharmaceuticals’ treachery went deep. They had failed in curing the moon cursed of their curse but found a way to force the Last Change instead. Seeing it as a money-making opportunity, they had gone forward with that research. Wes had been one of the first ‘batches’ and had escaped. They wrote it off, covered their tracks, and made sure none of the other wolves ever remembered being human. That was the fatal flaw they made with Wesley. He remembered.
“What did you intend to do with the werewolves?” Corissa asked, her voice tight.
“Sell them to the highest bidder,” Ardghal answered, then dropped his head again. “For them to make protective packs like we did in Colorado. Our Colorado pack was our showpiece for the project. A witch was able to keep them docile if there was any reason to go among them and check their health. We called the witch their handler. He died during the raid on the laboratory.”
“Good,” Corissa snarled.
Sometime later, the Tribunal left the room, calling for a one-hour recess. No one moved in the chambers. Raphael looked up at me and tried to wave me down, but I shook my head. I liked my seat, and as the representing ruler of the nagas, I couldn’t really put myself into that zone. It was rife with political implications I wasn’t in the mood to deal with. He didn’t come to me. He frowned, but he didn’t come to me.
When the Tribunal members came back into the room, they looked decided.
32
Chapter Thirty-Two
The room waited on bated breath. I had no reason to think the Tribunal would surprise me, but I still had that small dread they would find a way. This should be a cut-and-dry situation. The cambions and nephilim would be accepted into the fold as a species under the Law. The big players of Mygi would be sentenced to death. Others had already been sentenced to jail time, but these were the conspirators, the power players.
They had to die.
“Mygi Pharmaceuticals will be turned over to Director Johansson of the Mygi Hospital,” Alvina announced, remaining standing as the others seated. “Director, I know the Mygi organizations are of your creation. Thank you so much for being here.”
I was stunned. Director Johansson was the enigmatic Immortal who ran the Mygi Hospital, the best and only supernatural dedicated hospital in the world. He hired the best healers and humans, combining modern medical science and magic. He was called Director because it made him seem less powerful than he was, but he ran it. He instituted the neutrality rules and enforced them. Rumor was, he could be vicious about his neutrality, thanks to his being an Immortal. Immortals weren’t technically a Tribunal governed species. They were magically inert humans who appeared randomly and refused to die. They often kept to themselves, even more elusive and reclusive than the werecats.
“I’m glad to be here to bring honor back to the Mygi name I established so long ago. I regret those I chose to run the research branch of my legacy have chosen to sully our reputation, hurting those we are meant to save.” The Director stood as he spoke. He looked unremarkable, but that was the danger and genius of the Immortals. They were human. They would remind you of that up to the very moment they killed you, revealing they were experts in whatever they spent their immense time pursuing. Many of them were some of the best warriors in the world, but they fought for no one and nothing. They just wanted to live their lives.
“We are hoping you will agree with and help us with this next decision,” Alvina said, looking down at something passed to her from the witches. “We spoke as a group while we were in recess and decided to make these decisions as a unit instead of arguing. We wish that Mygi Pharmaceuticals make reparations to the cambions. The math has taken a moment to work out, which is what Matilda just passed to me.”
“Name your price,” the Director said with a good-natured acceptance.
“For the captivity and holding of
the cambions, we wish for ten million to be invested into their community to help them buy their own land, build their own homes, and pursue their own educations. We’ve judged the actions of Mygi Pharmaceuticals robbed them of the chance to establish their immortal lives, robbing them of wealth they could have potentially acquired, and much more. We think this investment will go a long way to make them established in our world, as they so rightfully deserve.”
I noticed there were some blank faces on the Tribunal. They had decided to vote in private, keeping dissenters from having a position to speak against this. It was a PR move. Oisin was a blank face. So was Johann, the male witch of the Tribunal. Finally, I saw Hasan, the last blank face, but I didn’t believe he was against this. My guess was he only wanted to keep his feelings of victory secret. Others were emotional in a variety of ways. Alvina was obviously feeling guilty. Isaiah was angry at the events, glaring at those he would soon get to sentence. Callahan and Corissa made no attempts to cover up their pride over claiming victory and showing their werewolves they would always be protected.
“I can agree to all of that,” Director Johansson said with a smile. “But allow me, please, to make a counteroffer.”
Several people gasped.
“Go ahead,” Alvina ordered, cautious of what the Immortal was doing.
“Twenty million,” he said, making the mood of the room confused. “And…” The Director looked over the cambions to his right, as though he was counting them. “Two percent of the company’s stocks for each surviving member of the community. Five percent to the community as a whole for the lost one, Maude.”
