Adi hadn’t slept well. Janice had attempted to crawl into bed with him, and he had to block off his door with a chair. There was also a shouting match when Janice decided that Verlsa was also a suitable replacement. He decided that it was best to ignore everyone until the afternoon when hunger would be the only one to drive him from his room.

He unwedged the chair from his door and found Sable waiting for him on the other side of the door. Her tail wagged bag and forth at the sight of him, and she nudged his hand with her nose. Verlsa was hiding out in the office, Janice was still asleep, and someone had brewed some coffee. Adi helped himself to a cup and to a container of leftover Chinese food.

Sitting in his chair, her flicked on the television and noticed that it had been left on a news network. “More analysis is needed, but several of the bodies may have already tested positive for a substance known as overjoy. A new designer drug known to cause realistic hallucinations and violent behavior, overjoy has a slightly sweet flavor and can easily be diluted in alcohol.

Police now believe that someone willfully poisoned party goers Tuesday night. They traveled to a cemetery, where they began to attack each other. Several possible victims are still unaccounted for. Police are still looking for leads. Any photos or video of that night may hold valuable clues for this case.”

“The fuck?”

“That is the power of the SIA,” said Duke. He had heard Adi moving around and had come out of the office. “People need to place blame in a tragedy, and when there is no clear killer, they blame the tools of destruction. Guns. Drugs. Social standing. We as a society are so quick to look around the truth of the matter.”

Adi didn’t bother to turn around. He just shook his head and raised his voice. “My home is still full of unwanted guests. And did you at least bring back my car?”

Duke pulled out his phone and began to dial in a number. “I will handle it as time passes.” Windi answered as Duke put the phone on speaker. “Atticus has bothered to wake up. What progress has your team made in regards to his case?”

There was a pause before Windi responded. “We are willing to give advice, but we must limit our overall presence within the case.” As she spoke, Verlsa also wandered out of the office so she could listen in. She pursed her lips as she leaned her back against the hallway wall. “Inugami possess either living or dead human hosts, and mithryn are not immune.

We fear that our agents will be susceptible to an attack, and they, in turn, will be used against Mister Wulfurt. You should consider staying at the fighting den until we have come up with a better strategy. Only demons are immune. We suggest that Miss Perlin contact her people and seek their advice since she appears to be the main target.”

Duke waved off Verlsa, who was now rolling her eyes sarcastically. “Should I continue my investigation?”

“You are to survey Mister Kenelm and inform us if he attempts to leave the area. We are currently devising a strategy to detain him and his associates. Is there anything else?”

“That will do it. I will contact you if my situation changes or if there is anything else I may need.”

Verlsa scowled as he hung up the phone. “And again, they shove their work off on someone else. All they ever do is wait for matters to take care of themselves and clean up what’s left.”

“I am inclined to agree,” replied Duke, “but it is a double-edged sword that we must wield for the time being.”

“Or it’s a big sack of fuck all that we’re swinging around, and we’re the only ones being hit,” she spat back.

“Let us order our priorities and consider that DH removing themselves from the situation may be a blessing in disguise. May I continue?” He raised a brow at Verlsa, who glared at him in return. “Atticus. Speak your woes.”

“That, that, and that,” he stated. He pointed at each of them in order. Sable was left out of his woes, as she had proved to be both loyal and adorable.

Duke narrowed his eyes. “And it will be handled in time.” He looked down at his phone and at the list he had made. “We have two cases to concentrate on, and we will divide our forces on them accordingly. First and foremost is Atticus’ safety. Aside from limiting his exposure to danger, what else can we do?”

Adi leaned back in his chair and crossed his legs. He idly scratched at the top of Sable’s head as she sat down next to him. “I emailed my cousin Robbie. Since Sable was found near here, it might be related to what my uncle had been working on.”

“Your cousin who vanished?” Duke sought clarification.

“He’s not talking to us, but that doesn’t mean he’s not checking his email,” replied Adi. A statement that made Duke shrug, as he may have a point. “So, you know, we do know how to handle ourselves and aren’t just sitting around doing nothing because you won’t answer your phone.”

Duke made a note about Robbie in his phone before putting it away in his pocket. “I will be leaving soon.”

“Of course you are,” snarled Adi.

“I will be taking Janice’s car this time. There is a night doctor who specializes in assisting Mithryn, and I will need to see him about a new pair of glasses.”

Adi took a slow sip of his coffee. He maintained eye contact with Duke the entire time. The alpha in this household was him, and he will have his display of dominance in order to prove it. It was lukewarm and bitter, much like Adi’s attitude towards his supposed mentor.

Duke wasn’t amused by the act. “We must consider Janice’s position in this. She is capable of bringing in demons to help with the investigation. They will be immune to the inugami’s influence, but may attempt to take control of the situation in ways that will not benefit us.”

Verlsa flung her hands in the air. “Of course they won’t benefit us! They’re monsters. They’d sooner off the lot of us, and harvest my organs for my magic.”

“That’s not true at all,” muttered Janice. She peeked out from her blanket nest, only somewhat aware of what was going on. “Those of the demon court are good people.”

“Tell that to my dead parents,” hissed back Verlsa.

“Shut up,” said Adi in a raised voice. “Just leave if you’re going to complain, alright? Neither of you are going to kill an inugami for me, and I can’t trust anything human.”

Janice immediately began to fuss, while Verlsa walked down the hall and shut herself away in the office. “But contacting the King’s Legion is a little much. We’re only supposed to do it for emergencies.” Adi glared at her. “I was just planning on leaving. Not much could be done if I switch faces again, right?”

“Yeah, but I’ll still end up dead,” he growled back.

“... Alright, fine.” Janice looked about the room. “I’m going to make a mess of your wall over there for a moment. It will clean itself up afterward.”

Janice walked over to the blank wall and sliced open the pad of her thumb with her tooth. She drew a large oval on the wall, as though it were a mirror, and left a thumbprint in the middle. “My loyalties lie solely with the king.” Grains of glass began to form out of her blood. They began to bead together, forming a smooth surface within the oval.

“Thank you for contacting the King’s hotline. Praise his wisdom.” Swirling colors turned into silver colored lips as a woman with a French accent began to speak. Her voice was quite soothing to listen to. “Your conversation may be recorded for training purposes. Your email may also be registered with the crown in order to get the latest news and updates. Please state who you are attempting to contact today.”

“Investigation and protection services,” Janice replied. She ignored Duke as he took a few side steps towards her. This sort of magic was remarkable, and he was wondering how it was possible for any demon to conjure it.

“Thank you. One moment, please.”

The image of the lips faded away, being replaced by a gnarly looking old man. He was dressed in a tunic made of woven flower petals and his red butterfly wings were fluttering behind him. It was exactly what Duke would imagine a fairy would look like, that is if Tinkerbell had been smoking for a hundred years and dunked in a vat of ugly.

“Yer gonna need ta ztate ya troublez.”

Janice fixed her hair with a hand and began to mumble. “I sort of killed a human under the effects of possession. Then I sort of ate him.”

The faerie stared at her dumbfounded for a second. “Dinnae seem like a large problem you got, eh? Zwept itself neatly under the rug.”

“But, uh, after that, there was a detective who was investigating that guy’s disappearance. It turned out he was also possessed by a monster and he tried to kill my ex-boyfriend. So it kinda seems like there’s an Inugami wielding mage that’s trying to come after me.” Janice twiddled her thumbs nervously. Duke gave a sad nod to confirm the story, playing his role of background accessory perfectly.

The fairy started to tap aimlessly at the air. “Confounded new technologiez…” he swiped about randomly until a holographic screen appeared next to him. “Humans are cleared fer zuccubuz procreation as long as there’z no breeding, eh? Zo yer tezted and not knocked up?”

“Yes, all clear in that regard.” Janice leaned towards Duke. “Succubuses can only reproduce if they’ve eaten a male.”

“That… Is an extremely interesting detail.” Duke nodded and folded his arms together.

Adi tightened his grip on his mug. His face was one of absolute horror. “You ate Desmond,” he hissed through his teeth.

“Yes, babe, I know. It’s bad,” replied Janice as she nodded. “Well, I’m not pregnant!”

“We are… Totally,” his expression shifted to one of amazement. “Wow, we are never getting back together again. Just, no. Wow... No.”

“Adi! I’m trying to talk here!” Janice waved between the magic mirror. “We don’t need to argue about that at this moment!”

The faerie was unamused by this exchange, but he continued to type on his computer. “Give it a weekz time and zomeone will zhow up ta zet it right.” He put in some more notes, then looked up and gave her a fake smile.

“That’s way too long. I would like to have this issue resolved now.”

“I would like you to be out of my house now.”

“Shut up Adi!” Janice stamped her foot and flailed her arms at him. “This is important!”

“Let me just look and zee what I can do.” He typed some more, leaning in close to the screen to read all the small details. “Yer kind is ranked as a top tier in termz of protecting yerzelf. That meanz ya rank as low priority in cazez like thiz.” He typed a bit more. “I can get zomeone there in… One week.”

“That’s really way to lo-”

“Yer ticket number is 87043, and further updatez will be zent to ya email. Thank ya for making your concernz and known to the King. Praise hiz wisdom and know he lovez each and every one of uz.” The imaged cracked and shattered to nothingness, leaving the wall clean.

Janice began to fume, stamping her foot again in the process. She stormed her way to the kitchen, grabbed herself a beer, and began to chug it. It wasn’t much of a ladylike display, but Adi couldn’t bring himself to be amused by her disheveled appearance. He was still to pissed off at her.

Duke had already dialed a number and was holding the phone up to his ear. “Hello, Enid. It’s Duke. I am calling to confirm what time the doctor will be at the den.” He nodded a few times. “I will attempt to be there at that time. My injuries were more severe than I thought, and I need to travel home to gather up more dirt for me to consume. It will take me a few hours to do so… Yes, thank you. Send my apologies to Kenelm.”

He hung up his phone and they began their investigation. Janice had been banned to the corner of the living room and was given a notebook. She was told to write in everything she had done over the past six months. Who she had slept with, who she had meetings with, anything relating to her job or day to day activities. Anything that would hold a clue.

Duke was muttering his theories with Sable. As the first victim in the inugami case, she would be their key. Most important was the identity of her former master. However, she was still a dog. She could sit, she could fetch, but declaring proudly who her murderer was wasn’t a skill she had quite mastered yet.

Adi sat on the couch and was playing a game he had been putting off. He didn’t have much to do, and it was better for everyone if he stayed out of the way. Janice complained until he had put on a headset, but that didn’t stop him from annoying everyone once in a while by yelling that his teammates should be on point rather than mucking around elsewhere. Janice would rip a page out of her notebook and toss a ball of paper at his head to get him to shut up, and this only added to his fury.

“Has your cousin contacted you yet?” Duke walked over and tugged on Adi’s headset. “You mentioned that you had attempted to email him.”

“Uh… Let me check.” He pulled out his phone and noticed a new email. It was from Robbie, who wanted to talk right away. “Yeah. He gave me his phone number.” Adi got up and walked towards his room, dialing in the number as he went.

“Who’s this?” The voice was his cousin’s, but it sounded rushed and paranoid.

“It’s me. Sorry about the delay, I just saw your email.” Adi closed the door after himself.”

“Adi? Oh, shit, it’s good to hear from you. Are you still in the Seattle area?” He didn’t sound relieved to know that it was Adi.

Adi sat down on the edge of his bed. “I moved into Grandpa’s. Seattle was a little too, uh, hairy for my tastes.” He tried not to chuckle at his own joke but failed. “I thought you got cursed by a gypsy woman.”

“We’ll talk about that later. Actually tomorrow. I can meet you in Tacoma, but I want it to be a public area. Do you want to have lunch somewhere? You like chicken, right? You always did like your fried chicken.” He let out a high-pitched and nervous laugh.

“Sure, we can meet at a restaurant tomorrow. Just text me the address and I’ll be there.” Adi looked up and glared at Duke, who was peeking through his bedroom door.

“Tell him you are bringing a date,” he whispered. Adi was puzzled by the request. “You cannot risk being alone at this time. Tell him you are bringing a date.”

“Hey Robbie, I’m actually supposed to be meeting my girlfriend tomorrow for a lunch date. Will it be okay if I brought her along?” Duke gave Adi a thumbs up. “She already knows about what we do, so you can be open with her.”

“Yes… That’s perfect. I’ll bring my wife,” he said with a pause. “She’s going to love meeting you, but just stay safe until then, okay Adi? We have a lot to talk about.”

“Of course, Robs. You know me, I’m the worst at finding trouble. I’ll see you tomorrow.” Adi hung up the phone and let out a sigh. He got up and was frustrated to see both Janice and Verlsa were hanging out within eavesdropping distance of his door.

Janice immediately began to fluster. “I have no idea what to wear tomorrow. I’ve only ever met your stepfather before.” And she had worn the smallest possible red dress to that Christmas party. Tight red dresses and black lingerie were the only two things Adi was convinced she owned. Neither was appropriate for a lunch date with his cousin.

Adi grimaced at the thought. “Varsulala is going, not you.” Janice’s face twisted with pain. “You and me? We’re oveeeerrrrrr.” He slid his hands across the open air to stress how over they were.

“But baby, now is really the time we need to be sticking together. With all the weird stuff that’s been going on, I really need you.” Her bottom lip was quivering.

Adi ripped the framed photo off of the wall, walked over to the kitchen, and hurled the piece into the garbage. “Over!” He then stormed off to his bedroom and slammed the door behind him as Janice’s eyes teared up again.

“A bit childish, but he has a point,” muttered Duke while Sable barked in agreement. “Verlsa will be enough to act as his guard.”

“I never agreed to do that,” replied Verlsa bluntly.

“And she will be happy in knowing that the owner of this house is safe while he is under her care,” growled Duke between his teeth. Verlsa remained firm on her stance. With a sigh, he turned back to Janice, who was now a blubbering, teary-eyed mess. “There is no need to be just as immature as Atticus is behaving at this moment. Let us take a moment to see what you have written down, and we will move on from there.”