[Trent]Victor called me into the morgue he controlled again after dinner. Lily wasn’t happy with me, but we needed to take care of issues with the investigation as they happened. I’d make it up to her as soon as I got home. The morgue was hidden in a basement under a set of row houses that belonged to some vampires and had since they were built. Initially, the morgue had been a place to house victims' bodies until they could dispose of them. All of the vampires in the city used it until laws had been enacted that made it illegal to kill donors. Victor had explained this all the last time we went there. Neither Maeve nor I had any idea something like that existed in town. We might never have known if not for Victor telling us. I drove out on my own. Normally, I would bring Mike, but Beth was a week past her due date and I made him stay with her. They needed time together. This was stressful and if she went into labor before her induction appointment, then she would want her mate with her. When I arrived, I locked my car and went around to the alley entrance. It was a stairwell hidden under a board with a dumpster sitting on top of it. If someone didn’t know it was there, they would never find it. The dumpster was already pushed away, but the board was in place. I lifted up one side and headed down the stairs, lowering the board back in place as I went. It was fairly dark, but there was some light from the lights in the alley that came through the edges of the board in slivers. More than enough light for a werewolf to see clearly.It was actually ingenious. The morgue was fairly basic. There was an entrance that looked like a storage room. On one side of the room were shelves with various things on them, but the shelves pulled out to reveal a door to a small washroom. On the wall directly in front of the entrance was a locked cabinet that was actually the door to the morgue. Once through that door, it was just like any other morgue with a freezer for bodies, examination tables, medical tools, and the scent of hospital-grade sanitizer.I opened the door and recoiled at the smell. The last time I’d been here, it was like any other sterile environment. It smelled like cleaners, and faintly of death. Now, the smell was like something that had been rotting in the sun for days. It overpowered all of the other scents in the area. That made my wolf go on high alert. Scent was one of the ways werewolves stayed aware of their environment and possible dangers. Queen Maeve saw me but didn’t look as overpowered by the scent. This wasn’t even the main morgue, just the entrance. It shouldn’t have been this strong. “Are you alright, Alpha?” she asked in a concerned voice. “The smell. How do you look like you can’t smell it?” “I don’t smell anything at the moment, but the scent in the next room is terrible. I came out to make something to block the scent. If you can smell it from out here, though, perhaps I should make you one….” It was worse in the next room? I almost began heaving at the thought of it. One of the doors off to the side of the room opened and Victor came out looking sick. I figured if it was affecting me this badly, then it had to be about as bad for him. Queen Maeve went to him and handed him something that looked like a mask to cover his mouth and nose. She brought one to me and then put her own on. It didn’t look like it would work, but I would trust her. I put the mask on and the smell suddenly disappeared. I breathed a sigh of relief and saw that Victor was actually looking much better. The cabinet door opened and a human came out. Though I hadn’t met Spencer, Gray sent me a picture of him. It was easy to recognize him in person. His eyes were such a dark brown they appeared black. He looked at the three of us with a cool expression that was almost chilling. “If the three of you are ready, I’m prepared to go over what I know from these bodies,” he said and turned back into the cabinet. We followed him. Victor said it was important, but he didn’t say anything about bodies. The lighting improved as we entered the main morgue. There were two examination tables and one wheel-away table with bodies, or body parts on them. Something thick and mucky looking oozed from them. I’d never been sensitive to things like that, but it twisted my stomach. In fact, no one seemed particularly happy. Though, Spencer was unfazed. He led us to the one that looked like it had been roughly dismembered. Giant insect pieces were mixed among the human pieces. I looked back up at Spencer, needing to see something else. “Three of them attacked someone. I thought there was only one,” I said. “No, there are probably a few more, but these ones were on a mission. The one that was killed earlier was an example of how they would normally behave. They don’t typically work together unless it’s for the good of the demon they serve. It must have been looking for the woman Rhett saved. “He said it attacked her before she ran away from the cult. When it found her on the streets, it must have been able to contact the others. They were persistent. Usually, they’ll run away if they get hurt, like the one that attacked me did. That means they thought they had their target,” Spencer explained. “Who did they attack, Victor? Did Rhett manage to do all this and then call you in?” I asked. “No. This one was killed by two of my vampires, Sybil and Dennis Lyons. They weren’t attacking Sybil and Dennis, though. According to their report, the creatures seemed to appear out of nowhere and attacked Carmen Rosen and Austin Lewis. They completely ignored Rock and my vampires.” Neither Carmen nor Austin had reported this to me. I didn’t even know how they were doing. Were they injured? Would anyone have told me if they were? “Where are Carmen and Austin now?” I asked. “Home. Dennis told them to go home and he would take care of reporting this to us. He understood that your wolves would be shaken by the situation. Neither of them are warriors. Rock was, of course, eager to get his mate home and take care of her. That is why he probably hasn’t said anything to you either, Queen Maeve,” Victor answered. “It’s entirely understandable. The report was taken care of. That is what’s important. It’s all part of our alliance, right? Instead of keeping our weaker members around a traumatizing scene, we can let them go home while someone stronger takes care of the reports,” she replied. I nodded. Even though I was upset no one had told me, I could understand. Austin was just an omega. He wasn’t a warrior or ranked blood. Carmen wouldn’t have even seen what happened. It wasn’t worth it to make them stick around the scene with this horrible smell around them. Especially since Carmen’s sense of smell was even more sensitive than a normal werewolf’s sense of smell. “So the insects thought Carmen and Austin had something to do with the woman Rhett is caring for?” Maeve asked. “Grayson told me Austin and Carmen spent the day at Rhett’s house. He asked them to help care for the woman he was looking after so he could spend more time working on the house Rock was providing for them. Or that was what Rock said when Grayson asked him,” Victor explained. “That makes sense. I believe the revenant beetles smelled her on Carmen and Austin. Carmen must have been touched by her or touching her more, because two of the beetles went after her, according to Mr. Lyons’ report,” Spencer said. “Does this mean the beetles will track her down to Rhett’s home? Should we try to find a more secure place for her?” I asked. “No, Rhett’s darkness is hiding her. These things have been looking for her since Rhett killed the other one. And they are likely not the only ones in the area. We need to let Rhett know, but I don’t think they can find her in the protection of wherever it is he lives,” Spencer told me. At least the last victim was safe. Victor was acting a little cooler than he normally did. I looked over at Maeve. She had a concerned look on her face, but Victor didn’t look worried. The safety of the last victim was fairly important and I didn’t think this was a normal vampire coldness. Spencer poked at the pieces of the creature with a metal pointer of some sort. He seemed intent on the damage done. Of course, he probably didn’t have much experience with what supernaturals could do when defending themselves. “What does this mean for our plan?” I asked. My phone started buzzing in my pocket. I quickly pressed the silence button to make it stop. I’d have to address the call after this. If whatever happened tonight changed what we were doing, then I needed to be here for this meeting. I hoped Lily would understand if it was her. “For now, we’re going to keep to our original plan. Rhett said we would want to wait for Harmony to have her baby. He’s due in the next week or so. Since her wolf is fully connected to her now, she should be up to going within a few days,” Victor answered. “She’ll be a new mother. Do you honestly think she’ll want to leave her child a few days after he’s born to fight a demon?” Maeve asked. “Harmony was born a ranked wolf. Even if she is not a ranked member of this pack, she is still part of this pack. This is a threat to the pack and to her child. She will want to be part of it. When we last talked to him, Rhett had a point about not depriving Harmony of the fight she’s been trained for,” I told her. I hadn’t been thinking when I questioned Harmony’s involvement the last time we met. It was hard to think of her as a woman who could take care of herself. We were always taught to protect the females in the pack, but there had never been a ranked female in our pack. We only had ranked blood females. We moved on to the next table. This one was lying on its stomach. It looked like it had been stomped pretty thoroughly. Spencer poked this one, too, shaking his head. “You know nothing can break through these shells, normally. I never realized trolls were strong enough to do something like this. Our peoples so rarely cross paths in this way. I am very impressed,” Spencer said as he poked. “Trolls are one of the physically strongest creatures of the fae. Though Rock isn’t as strong as a full troll, his strength isn’t something most mortal beings could stand up against. Keeping powerful beings like that under control has been a struggle. For the most part, they respect the hierarchy of our society, but we never forget that they are only loyal out of courtesy,” Maeve replied. “I was under the impression the royals were stronger than them somehow. Magically or something,” I said. She shook her head. “Conscription magic was the only thing we had over them. Once we outlawed it, there was nothing holding them back anymore. They aren’t stupid, they know it. But we have managed to maintain peace with them. My fae community is one of the few mixed communities that still has trolls. It’s because of Rock’s mother. She is a dear friend of mine and has helped a lot.” “Is Oberon weaker than them, too?” Spencer asked. “High elves are on a different level than other elves. They are almost as strong as a troll because of their magic. They don’t have the muscles that a troll does, but their magic acts as a modifier for physical strength.” “Does this mean we’ll want full trolls going with us?” I asked. “I’d already planned it. There are some warriors in the troll village in the forest who are eager to join this fight. They want to see how strong a demon is and if they can kill it. Most warrior trolls are all about battle and honor. They were especially enthusiastic about the idea when they found out who my spy was. The young men are quite keen on her,” Maeve chuckled. I nodded. That was something that was common in most species. Impressing a female was a big deal for many young men. A sudden impact outside the building made everyone, except Victor, jump. It came again. It was almost as if something was ramming into the building. Victor led us to a separate exit. Whatever this thing was, we weren’t going to give it the high ground.