Page 6 of Immortal Unveiled

“Demon activity?” Manus asked, trying to sound casual when he, too, just like the two vampire hybrids, was eager for some action.

“Not recent. Remember the emissarius that was murdered about three months ago?”

Manus nodded. Stuff like that was hard to forget. “Nancy Britton? Curator at the Museum of Antiquities?”

Pearce nodded. “Yeah.”

“Do we have new leads in her case?”

Grayson and Ryder came closer, interested.

“Other than that we know it was a demon? No.”

“Then what—”

“It’s about her daughter. She can’t let it go. She’s convinced her mother’s death has supernatural causes.”

“Well, she’s right,” Manus said.

“You know that, and I know that, but the Council is concerned that she’s getting too close to finding an explanation that’s actually coming close to the truth. And we can’t let that happen.” Pearce swiveled in his chair. “They figured you could take care of this.”

“Take care of this?” Ryder echoed and took a step toward them. “Are you saying the Council wants you guys to kill the daughter?”

“Fuck!” Grayson let out.

Shocked, Manus stared at the hybrids. “Kill? Are you guys for real?” Then he glanced at Pearce, letting out an exasperated breath. “Would you please tell these jokers what our procedure in cases like that is?”

Pearce shook his head at Grayson and Ryder. “Honestly, guys, I know that killing is constantly on your minds, and that there hasn’t been some decent demon killing lately, but really…” He sighed. “Anyway, no, we’re not killing the daughter. We’re just sending Manus out to convince her that whatever supernatural cockamamie theory she has is totally loco, so she’ll stop pursuing it and drop the whole thing before it goes viral.”

“Viral?” Manus asked.

Pearce looked at him. “Yep, she’s posted all kinds of crap on this forum for paranormal buffs, hoping to get answers. Her description of a vortex is pretty damn accurate.”

“She saw a demon vortex?” Manus asked. “I don’t remember that from the file.”

“’Cause it wasn’t in there. The police didn’t put it in the murder book, or at least not in those words. So, we missed it.”

“Fine, I’ll take care of it,” Manus said.

Ryder asked, “How?”

Manus let a smile widen his mouth. “The gift of the gab.”

“Charm? You think you can talk her out of believing what she’s seen?” Grayson asked in disbelief.

“Piece of cake.” Manus winked at the two hybrids. “And so you’ll learn something, I’m gonna let you watch.”

It would be a nice diversion for one day.