Greykin Valley

| 5 | The Conspiracy

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| Jackson |

A flurry of emotions raced through Jackson as he stared at Wilson. Relief gripped him tightly and he didn't stop himself from running over to him. Wilson chuckled and stood up, and when they clashed, Jackson wrapped his arms him. Wilson tried to do the same, but his restraints stopped him.

"What are you doing here?" Wilson asked, stepping back so that he could look Jackson up and down.

"Well, it's a long story, actually," he said as he heard Sebastien close the door, leaving them alone. He pulled out the chair across the table from Wilson. Then, he sat down and said, "But the main part of it is that I came looking for you."

A shocked expression appeared on Wilson's face. "It worked?"

Jackson frowned. "What...worked?"

"You have a perception filter on—you're probably not hearing any of this—"

"No, I hear you," Jackson assured him. "I know all about the perception filter and demons and wolf walkers."

Wilson looked dumbfounded. "But...how?"

Jackson shuffled around. There wasn't any need to feel nervous, was there? It was Wilson. This man was his best friend. He still looked and sounded the same. He was still the same guy he knew before he disappeared, right? And knowing that brought his feeling of relief back. He thought he'd never see him again, but there he was...right in front of him. Jackson wanted to hug him again, but there was too much at stake for him to waste time.

"Well...if you know about the perception filter, then you must know I'm an asmodi demon, right?" Jackson asked.

"Yeah, I knew from day one, man."

Jackson scoffed amusedly. Of course he knew. "I learned that...asmodi demons' ethos doesn't fully awaken until they make their first kill, so...when I accidentally killed someone, it woke up my demon...stuff...and that started fighting the perception filter. I began to remember things."

"Makes sense," Wilson said. "You killed someone?"

Guilt began consuming him. "I didn't mean to."

Wilson sighed. "Don't feel bad about it, Jack. It wasn't your fault. Demons, they just...gotta kill sometimes."

With a confused frown, Jackson looked at him. "What did you mean when you said it worked?"

Wilson rested his arms on the table. "I kinda figured you had a perception filter when one night we were talking about wolf walkers, and the next you were acting like you had no idea what they were. I knew Eric was an asshole, but that was a move I wouldn't have thought he'd taken." He sighed and shook his head. "After I figured it out, I had to do a lot of digging around in old books, but I found a way to sort of...hack perception filters."

"Hack?"

"Yeah. I couldn't remove the entire thing, but I could mess with it so that you'd be able to remember wolf walkers and the fact they were in Ascela."

Jackson nodded. "And that's how I got here. So...is that what you've been doing this whole time? Looking for wolf walkers?"

Wilson shrugged and slouched back. "Nah, I didn't make my own way here." He fixed his eyes on the camera in the corner of the room and then set his sights back on Jackson. "Where are we?"

He wasn't sure if he was allowed to share that information. "A police station."

His friend scoffed. "Oh, Jack. You're still such a terrible liar."