Chapter 25 25
“You think the syndicate is behind this.” Connor said into the silence. He didn’t make it a question, once again proving he could read my mind. A tense nod was my only response. Thomas clenched his jaw.
“The syndicate?” I waved the hand that wasn’t covering my face towards Connor to indicate it was his turn to take over educating the pup.
“After the last war, a group of dissentients banded together and named themselves The Syndicate. They are predominately vampires who were dissatisfied with the accords. Since their founding, they have attempted to orchestrate a new war with the goal of becoming the ruling body of our world and possibly the human one as well. They kill those they deem as advisories or whose death will provoke violence. We believe they have a highly organized structure. They appear to operate in cells. When one cell is taken out, another takes its place. In the human world, they would be categorized as terrorists. In our world, they are categorized as freedom fighters or militants due to their refusal to follow our laws and the aforementioned murdering.” Connor had switched into business mode. Seriously, who says aforementioned? At least he hadn’t pulled out his million dollar words. I hated having to look them up to figure out what he had actually said. He looked over at me before adding “This seems too sloppy and subtle for them. They would have sent a magic with the vamp to cover their tracks.”
“That protection spell was fairly easy to break. Why didn’t they break it and kill the kids? The Syndicate has proven no one is too young or old to be killed.” Thomas made a good point.
I pointed at the Cole shaped hole in the door. “Not exactly easy. But, you’re right. They would have broken the spell, killed the kids, and magiced away the evidence.” A new thought occurred to me. “Maybe they aren’t Syndicate. Could be a new group or someone proving themselves to the Syndicate.”
Connor, Thomas, and I exchanged sick looks. A new player on the scene meant trouble. Keeping the humans from noticing a world full of magic and creatures was no small task. Our people had to be inserted into key positions everywhere. Most government agencies and labs had our people planted in them. It was common for counties with high supernatural residency to have a Sheriff’s department that were non-human. We were barely able to cover up what The Syndicate and random idiots stirred up as is was. If another group was becoming active we would have to track them down and snuff them out before they got organized. But, if this was some idiot that thought The Syndicate was the answer to their problems, well, that was a bigger issue. In my experience, these idiots usual caused a lot of trouble before getting themselves killed, usually by us. The Syndicate liked to use them as cannon fodder.
“I’ve got some contacts that might know if this was sanctioned by The Syndicate. I assume the two of you do as well. Why don’t we reach out and see what we can learn?” Connor and I nodded at Thomas’ suggestion.
“All righty then. Until we can contact our sources, let’s get this place dealt with. I’ll head outside and dig up the quartz. Since I’m not sure if it’s specifically for Cyrus, I think it’s best if no werewolves get near them. Thomas, you do whatever it is you need to do in here. Connor, why don’t you check for any magical booby traps?”
Connor raised his eyebrows. “I’m sorry. I didn’t get the memo that put you as my commander.” Tristan snorted.
“We both know my diplomatic immunity trumps your detective shield. We’ve known this for years. Now be a good boy and do as you are told. Unless you think it’s a good idea to have the vampire hanging out in a house that smells like magical blood?” The three of them grimaced. “Just for getting mouthy, you take the pup.” I turned to leave but stopped at the door to remind them “If it smells like magic or sulfur wolves no touchy.”
Connor’s comeback was cut off when I pulled my vibrating phone out of my pocket. I slid him a dirty look when I saw it was an unknown number.
“This is Cole.” I paused to listen to what had to be a little old lady on the other end. “No, ma’am I don’t have any Enchanted Fairy figurines for sale.” I flipped Connor the bird with both hands after I hung up. Tristan was smiling behind his hand unlike Thomas, who wasn’t even trying to hide his chuckles. “You have your assignments. Get to it. Chop. Chop.” I clapped my hands a couple of times and went out the door.
I walked around the yard pulling a little red wagon and digging up all the quartz. I’d found the wagon in the back yard along with a plastic shovel. Once I was sure I had all the pieces I ripped a portal to my lab and pushed the wagon thru it. I closed and sealed the portal behind it. At some point I’d get around to decontaminating them. But for now, they were safe and couldn’t be used to do any more harm. Time to find out what the guys have been up to.
Thomas and Tristan were in the family room talking quietly. Based on what I caught of their conversation it sounded like Thomas was enlightening Tristan about being a werewolf. Oh thank God. He’d be a much better teacher than me. Connor was pacing the hallway talking on his phone to I assumed his commander otherwise, he was releasing classified information to WikiLeaks. He noticed me standing there and ended his call.
“So, who wants to do some tracking?”