Blue Flames

Chapter 7

The five-minute drive to the Order felt longer. No matter how hard I tried to relax, my body buzzed with the thick tension in the car. Well, at least Irene didn't grant Charles any of the fearful adoration she showed Arthur. 

The three of us went inside the high building, attracting covert glances from everyone around us. What a trio we made. The fake human, the Enforcer, and the nine-tailed fox posing as a normal shapeshifter.

Soon enough, we were on the tenth floor. The entire floor consisted of massive laboratories set up with the latest technological and magical equipments. Immortals in white lab coats moved through the hallways, the glass walls and white floors made the entire space feel like a maze. Irene led us through with confident, familiar steps, until we reached a closed glass door. Behind which a woman stood in front of a huge hologram screen. Tall and slender, her skin was of rich chocolate and her eyes a piercing gray, her hair pulled into a tight low bun.

"This is Ed?" I whispered to Irene before she knocked.

She nodded with a small, satisfied smile. "Short for Edel," she said.

I had thought Ed was a man. That would teach me. Ed looked our way, smiled at Irene, frowned at me and scowled at Charles. I liked her already.

She opened the door and waved us in. "Come on in. I don't have all day."

A shapeshifter, I focused a bit more, trying to pinpoint what kind of shapeshifter she was. A feline, but what kind?

"I'm Ed," she said, walking back to the screen, we followed, "cheetah shifter, demonology expert, and I have some good news."

I perked up, watching as Edel fiddled a bit with the screen until a scan of what looked like an old document appeared on it.

She enlarged it. Even through the screen, I could tell the paper was ages old. Its edges were frayed and pieces were clearly glued together.

The ink washed out in some places. In the center of the page was a rough sketch of a humanoid creature with spiral horns protruding from its bald head, eyes that showed no white, a flat nose and a unique jaw that was a weird mesh of a human jaw and a canine's. The lower part of the face jutted out a little compared to the rest of its face.

"Before we begin, I might disclose information humans aren't privy to," Ed said, looking straight at me. Irene hesitated, but it was Charles who spoke, surprising the three of us.

"She has full clearance," he said, his large frame immovable next to me.

Ed blinked, then blew out a breath. "Alright."

So she wasn't going to argue. Considering Charles was one of Arthur's people, he technically was higher in the Order's ladder than both Ed and Irene. Irene would just love that.

On another note, I had a feeling I knew exactly who decided to give me full clearance. Either Arthur wasn't worried about me divulging confidential information after this case was over, or he wasn't planning on letting me leave alive.

There was a third explanation, but it was so unlikely that I vanished the thought in a second. Because there was no way he knew exactly what or who I was, and that I already knew everything the immortals tried to keep from humans.

Whatever the reason, I was not reassured.

Edel zoomed in on another small sketch next to the main one. A drawing of a jaw displaying a clear view of the sharp teeth.

"I took a look at the body myself after Stephanie got me the picture. I could tell from the trace and the angles of the bites that the jaw was unique. I knew I'd seen it before somewhere, but I couldn't remember until I went through an old book of high level demons that lived on Earth a long, long time ago."