How to Catch a Fish (ManxMan)

Chapter Thirty-one: Lieutenant in Action- Part Two

~Chapter Thirty-one: The Lieutenant in Action - Part Two~

Someone does end up being angry, and that someone is Sidr. The moment we enter the hotel conference room - the same hotel Koa, Sidr, and the demons working with them have been staying in while keeping an eye on Heather and this area - Sidr gives the spy captain a very dark look that promises pain. It softens when he sees Nero and me following him in, and I do not miss the way Koa intentionally puts me between himself and Sidr upon realizing the same thing that I did.

On the elevator ride up, Vepkoadur had explained that this meeting would be mostly centered around a variety of informants and allies and letting them bounce information off each other. Apparently, he had been having the problem of all of his informants giving him the same information because none of them knew what the others were looking into, and his allies kept barking up the wrong trees because the information was too limited for them to make informed decisions. With this meeting, Koa is hoping to get everyone on the same page so they can all work on their own, individual projects with the right information.

It is because of this that I am not surprised to see a wide variety of beings in the room, ranging from Were to shamen to beings that I cannot readily place, no matter how hard I try. When I asked why Nero and I needed to attend, as we do not really have much of a place among informants, Koa explained that it is actually due to Nero's status as a Mer prince and my status as a diplomat to the Mer. Plus, some of the information I told Sidr might be useful here apparently, and it is best to hear it from the source, as Koa put it.

As we approach the table to sit in the only two empty seats that are right next to each other, Nero nonchalantly takes my head. When I glance at him, not sure what brought this on, his face is completely blank. I would say that he wants comfort, but considering how he seems to be keeping himself between me and the rest of the room until he has no choice but to let me sit down beside a stranger, I doubt he is looking for support. If anything, it might have actually been meant as possessive.

Aside from Sidr, Koa, and two other demon officers – two Hellions I know very well, Sergeants Tiezoch and Gaemnar from my former squad – I recognize only three other people in the room. Or, at least, two of them are people, while one of them is...well, a wendigo. And, interestingly enough, it is the same wendigo from the prison. I am not sure why it is here, but no one really seems pleased to have it around, as they give it a wide berth by leaving empty seats on either side of the seated wendigo. And since its mask has been replaced since I last saw it, it looks all the more intimidating than it did when the mask was split down the middle.

How'd it even get in here without security stopping it?

The two other familiar faces belong to the Were couple I briefly saw while with Koa in the hospital cafeteria - Heather's brother and his mate. However, since they barely even glance our way, I guess that they either do not remember me or do not care. Instead, their attention is focused on Koa and Sidr, who are only now seating themselves near the head of the table, Sargeant Tiezoch between them.

Just as Sidr opens his mouth to say something, the wendigo suddenly stands up, and everyone in the room stiffens in wary preparation for something to happen. However, all the wendigo ends up doing is walking around the table until he is standing almost directly behind the unfamiliar Were seated next to me. The moment the Were's metaphorical hackles go up, I know it is a wolf, but it apparently sees the wendigo as the bigger predator, as he stands up and finds another seat, somehow guessing what the wendigo wants without being asked. With a pleased hum, the wendigo sits down beside me, smirking all the while.

There is a moment of awkward silence before Sidr clears his throat and says, "Now that we're all here, let's begin."

No one says anything right away, likely waiting for someone else to speak up first, but when it becomes apparent that no one else wants to be first, the shaman, who is recognizable because he is human and wear traditional garb, though I am not sure where he is a shaman from, speaks up. "The spirits are restless. They have always been and always will be a neutral party, so I am not sure why this war has them so riled up since they refuse to tell me, but it must be something big," he says.