Chapter 14 - Dark Waters

Julian woke up on Wednesday morning in an excellent mood.

A night of excellent, supernatural sex will do that to you, though. His fun with Corinne had left him sated and happy, and he made himself a nice little breakfast before hopping in the shower. When he got out of the shower, he dried off, put on some clean clothes, and grabbed his phone off the nightstand, checking to see if he'd gotten any messages. He had hoped for perhaps something from Abigail, but she'd been stubbornly silent.

He decided to send her a text, as he was definitely less than pleased with how they'd left things when last they spoke.

He waited, but she didn't reply. With a sigh, he clicked out of her name and looked over the messages that he had received. There was one from Corinne that came in early this morning saying she'd made it home safe, which was good to hear. He also, to his surprise, had a message from Asha that had come in just a few minutes ago while he was showering.

Julian stared at his phone for a moment, exhaling. He did have to it, he had been less than focused recently. Between the business with the Inglewood werewolf pack and the Niamh Sinclair murder, he'd been all over the place. There was just too much happening at once, and while the serial killer case was never far from his mind, the Amaya and Miguel connection had fallen to the wayside. He didn't know if or how it connected to the murders, but the fact that the two people working on it had both been murdered surely couldn't be coincidence, right? Out of all the supernaturals in Los Angeles, what were the odds of that?

Still musing over the diamond in danger, Julian clicked back into the chat with Abigail, and he sighed when he saw that she had read his message without replying.

"Great." Julian muttered, shoving his phone into his pocket. One more reason to steer clear of the precinct. It was clear that Abigail had no interest in talking to him, and with all of the supernatural stuff he had going on right now, the last thing he needed was human policework getting in his way.

He got to his feet to head out of the apartment, but before he left, he did a quick onceover of the apartment for any more mysterious letters. He'd expected an update from Alexandra Blackwood, but it didn't seem like there'd been anything dropped off. Maybe she hadn't been able to get a messenger over here before the sun came up. At this time of day, all the vampires would be conked out, but maybe in the afternoon he'd get some kind of as some of the vampires started waking up.

He grabbed his wallet and keys and headed out the door, jogging down the steps. He quickly made his way down, where he glanced up and down the street warily. After getting grabbed outside Arcana Augurum, he'd been much more wary of his surroundings, even in supposedly safe places. He was especially wary today, as by now, the pack surely knew that he'd killed Ezra. The fact that Ezra had attacked him first wouldn't matter, not to a pack who was now grieving six dead werewolves.

After quickly determining that he was alone, Julian went around the Cutlass and got in, inserting his keys and turning the car on. He kept an eye on his mirrors as he did so, watching for anyone approaching the vehicle, but all seemed clear. He grabbed the steering wheel, and as a rock song came playing through the speakers, Julian pulled into the road and began driving. He was headed west, about forty to fifty minutes of driving ahead of him, which would put him right about the time Asha had indicated.

———

When Julian pulled into the parking lot, he was pleased to see it wasn't absolutely full of people. The pier could be packed sometimes, but he supposed a Wednesday morning wasn't exactly primetime. He got out of the Cutlass, glancing around furtively. There were a couple families heading down onto the pier, some couples out for brunch or whatever normal people did with their mornings. Julian's mornings often involved a lot more murders and supernatural threats, but hey, to each their own, right?

Julian looked around, mainly for Asha, but it never hurt to be too cautious. A healthy dose of paranoia was exactly what he needed right now. It could keep him alive, or at least he hoped he would. He pulled out his phone, checking for any new texts (there were none), and he pushed Asha's name, lifting the phone to his ear.

"Hey, Detective." she replied, picking up quickly. "You here at the pier?"

"I am indeed." Julian answered. "Just parked."

"I'm by the Ferris wheel." she replied. "Hurry or we'll be late."

"Late for what?" Julian asked in surprise as he started walking, heading towards the quite hard to miss Ferris wheel.

"We've got a meeting." Asha replied. "With Amaya and Miguel's third conspirator."

Julian was stunned. "There was a third?"

"Told ya, I've been looking into it. I'll tell you everything when I see you." the jengu replied.

"Sounds good. See you in a minute." Julian said, hanging up.

He kept an eye on his surroundings, but he hurried along. He'd always thought the Santa Monica Pier was kind of weird, a mini amusement park on stilts? People seemed to like it though, the restaurants, the shops, the roller coaster, the Ferris wheel... it was a tourist attraction, and a popular one too. The main fair part of it was a big rectangle mostly on the sand other than the very end of it, and then the pier continued on away from the fair in a much skinnier strip that led to a fishing platform. A big one, too, but comparatively small compared to the main portion on the beach.

The wide wooden plank platform had plenty of people on it, but compared to some of the times he'd been here, it was relatively empty. There were lines at the rides, but not super long lines. He walked past the lines in a rush, heading for the rotating Ferris wheel. The Ferris wheel had quite a lengthy line, and Julian scanned the surrounding area, trying to look past the throngs of people and see the person who he was looking for. He tried sniffing the air for her, but the whole place smelled like saltwater, it was hard to identify the mermaid amongst all the other sea scents.

He walked back and forth past the Ferris wheel twice before he saw Asha. She was tucked in a little corner, away from the line, and she was on his phone. As Julian approached, he couldn't help but glance her up and down. The jengu was wearing cutoff light blue jean shorts, a pair of flip flops, and a white net crop top over a deep green lace bra that was showing off some pretty fantastic dark cleavage. Her toned stomach was prominently shown off, as were her long smooth legs. Asha was a taller girl, and thick and curvy too.

"There you are." Julian said by way of greeting as she approached. Asha lifted the red heart sunglasses she wore off her eyes, setting them on top of her head to reveal her silvery blue gaze. Her long dark hair was swept over one shoulder, and she gave him a half-smile of greeting.

"Sorry to drag you out here, but I didn't wanna do this meeting alone." Asha shrugged.

"Yeah, who are we meeting, by the way?" Julian asked, glancing around.

"So, since we struck out at the Petal and Thorn, I've been tearing apart my sister's room." Asha itted. "She was surprisingly good at being secretive. I found a ton of stuff I had no idea she had, but most of it had no relation to this diamond thing or her.. her murder."

Asha exhaled heavily after those last two words, and Julian gave her a sympathetic look, one she waved off frustratedly.

"Don't tell me you're sorry. That's all people have been telling me ever since it happened, and I'm sick of it." Asha huffed, her voice sounding a little trembly.

"I won't say it then. Let's just talk about what you did find." Julian said, and Asha nodded.

"Right. I found a bunch of papers that I think are plans to Cassius Benning's mansion." Asha revealed. "They had entrances and exits marked."

"Any indication what they were targeting inside the mansion?" Julian frowned. "And how'd they even get those plans?"

"Nothing was marked on the map that I saw." Asha shook her head. "No clue how she got the plans though."

"What was Amaya's role even going to be in this operation?" Julian rubbed his face thoughtfully, wishing he had shaved. "Miguel I get, he can transform into anyone. But a jengu? How does a mermaid fit into some kind of home invasion?"

"I wondered the same thing." Asha shook her head. "Even more so when I discovered their third team member."

"Another jengu?" Julian guessed. "Naiad?"

"Selkie, actually." Asha shook her head.

"The selkie from Petal and Thorn?" Julian asked in surprise. "I thought you said her and Amaya weren't that close."

"I didn't think they were." Asha huffed. "Maybe we should have been a little more thorough with our interviews there, but I'd never heard her even mention the selkie's name, so I didn't think there was a connection."

"Or she was hiding one." Julian mused. "So what's the deal with this selkie?"

"Well, she's terrified, for one. Absolutely refuses to go to work, I had to coax her into even meeting us here in public." Asha shook her head. "I'm not sure how much help she'll be, but once I found her mentioned in Amaya's notes, I knew I needed to talk to her."

"I can't blame her for being scared, she was working on this big secret project and then her two teammates end up dead." Julian shrugged. "I get it. It was just those three though, right? No fourth member?"

"As far as I can tell, yeah, just three. I pored over all her notes and maps, only Amaya, Miguel, and Isla, the selkie."

"Two water-based supernaturals on the team... I still just can't work out what that's about." Julian shook his head, mystified.

"I know!" Asha exclaimed, like it'd been bothering her too. "I went over everything, I can't find any substantial bodies of water anywhere near Benning's mansion, and it's not like we control water, so it couldn't have been any kind of plan to disrupt water flow, or at least not in any supernatural way."

"Just a weird coincidence, maybe?" Julian shook his head, confused. "Or maybe something about the diamond appeals to water-based supernaturals?"

"Hopefully Isla can answer some questions for us." Asha scowled, putting her hands on her wide hips. "You think you can get her to feel safe enough to talk?"

"I'll do my best." Julian shrugged, and Asha nodded.

"Let's go, then. She's at the far end of the pier, away from the crowd."

"And near the water if she needs to escape." Julian pointed out.

Asha snorted dismissively. "She's not escaping me in open water."

"You're faster?" Julian grinned.

"For sure." Asha said with a hint of competitiveness.

Asha and Julian walked down past the edge of the amusement park platform, carrying on along the wooden walkway out to the fishing platform, where a restaurant or two and a fishing shop sat. Asha led Julian past those too, to the very edge of the pier, a nice little secluded corner where nobody was hanging around, other than a slim blonde woman with long hair. It fell down to her navel at least, and she wore a strange black shawl over a wetsuit.

"She has her skin." Asha muttered in surprise as they walked up. "I thought she'd lost that."

"You're late!" the selkie exclaimed in a nervous huff as Asha and Julian reached her.

"Sorry, troubles parking." Julian lied smoothly. "I'm Detective Julian Anderson, I'm a werewolf who's working the serial killer case. Can I ask you some questions?"

"You're a real detective?" Isla the selkie asked a bit shakily.

"As real as it gets." Julian affirmed. "You have nothing to worry about."

"I've been really worried." Isla itted tearfully. "Miguel and Amaya both died! I'm all that's left, and I'm afraid they're coming for me too."

"If it helps, all of the other victims had nothing to do with your plan, at least as far as I know." Julian said soothingly. "It could have just been some anomaly."

Isla was trembling, but she nodded slowly. "OK. OK, thank you."

"Now, what the hell were you and my sister planning?" Asha demanded, and Isla wilted.

"We... we weren't doing anything bad!" Isla exclaimed defensively, wrapping her arms around herself. "We were just trying to protect Diamond!"

Julian and Asha looked at each other.

"You said that like a name." Julian pointed out. "Miguel's note said the diamond."

Isla hesitated before speaking, and when she did speak, she spoke very carefully. "Diamond's kind of a code name for her."

"So it was a person you were trying to protect, not an object." Julian summed up. "Who is this person?"

"I can't say." Isla shook her head fiercely. "It's too important."

Asha looked irritated, and she stepped closer to Isla aggressively. "Look, you are the only person who knows what my sister was involved in, and you won't tell me?"

Isla backed up from Asha, looking stressed.

"Hold on, hold on." Julian said, lifting his hands consolingly. "Just tell me this, did Diamond know you were protecting her? Is she someone you're working with?"

"No." Isla whispered. "Diamond has no idea what's going to happen at that gala."

"How do you know about it then?" Julian asked gently.

"It was Amaya." Isla revealed. "She found out what was going to happen while Mr. Benning was... um-"

"Fucking her, yes." Asha interrupted impatiently. "I know what my sister did for a living. Now tell us something useful."

"So Amaya figured something out, and decided she needed to intervene?" Julian verified. Isla nodded hurriedly.

"Yes, sir. She tried asking Mr. Benning for an invite, but he basically laughed in her face, so we came up with the plan of getting Miguel involved so he could sneak in." Isla explained. "It was just me and Amaya planning at first."

"Did Miguel use any other names that you know of?" Julian asked.

Isla bobbed her head. "Yeah, he was going by Donovan when I met him the first time, oh, and then he was Antoine and then Phillip."

Two of those names Julian had got from Constance, the vampire manager at the Petal and Thorn. She hadn't known Donovan though. It wasn't much use without a last name, but it was something. The two names Julian already had gotten hadn't turned anything up, it was essentially impossible to nail down a changeling. They could be anyone at any time, and nobody would be the wiser. Hell, for all Julian knew, these were real people the changeling was imitating.

"OK." Asha pinched the bridge of her nose. "So Amaya was trying to play hero, then? She heard about some plan to do something bad to the yet-to-be-named Diamond, and decided to do something about it."

Isla nodded sadly. "Yeah. We don't have supernatural police or anything like that, well, other than you I guess, Detective. But she didn't know you. She had nobody to go to, so she decided to take care of it herself. I offered my help, you see. I was a selkie stuck without my skin, slaving away at the Petal and Thorn to keep my human life afloat... I didn't think it would turn out like this."

"You expected help from this Diamond." Julian guessed. "Or some kind of gift."

"Yeah." Isla sniffled. "Guess it doesn't matter now."

"Then tell us who Diamond is, you idiot." Asha threw up her hands. "Then we can actually do something about it instead of hiding and crying."

"Hey, how would you feel if you were doing something and all the people you were doing it with started turning up dead?" Isla whined. "Don't blame me!"

"It'd be a lot less easy to blame you if you would woman up and tell us the name instead of being a little bitch." Asha scowled.

"OK, that's not helping." Julian told Asha, who rolled her silvery blue eyes.

"We all agreed to not tell anybody." Isla said firmly. "I'm not going to break my promise."

"Just fucking tell us!" Asha groaned.

"She didn't want you involved!" Isla protested. "She said it was too dangerous."

"She's gone!" Asha exploded. "My sister is fucking dead, and you are the only person who can help me figure out who did this to her, and instead of helping, you're being a fucking coward!"

Asha was shouting in anger now, clearly working off some pent up emotions, and Julian winced. Isla recoiled, and in an instant, she jumped up and over the railing, dropping like a stone into the ocean. Asha stood there, stunned, then she looked to Julian.

"The nerve of that bitch." Asha shook her head. She lifted her net top off and held it out to Julian, who took it, a little confused.

Asha kept ranting as she kicked off her flip flops and unbuttoned her cutoff jean shorts. "Trying to swim away like she's going to get away."

"She has her skin." Julian pointed out as Asha shimmied out of her shorts, stepping out of them. She knelt to pick them up and then she dropped them into Julian's arms. Julian looked the curvaceous black girl up and down, unable to help himself. She was standing in front of him wearing a matching set of lacy deep green lingerie, showing off mouthwatering dark curves and bountiful breasts. Then, to his amazement, she reached up behind her and undid the bra, dropping that into Julian's arms too.

Asha made no motion to cover her big tits as she hooked her fingers in the waistband of her panties and slid them down her long smooth legs. She stood up fully nude and dropped her panties into the growing pile of clothes in Julian's arm. He was a bit transfixed by her heavy round breasts, capped off by puffy brown nipples, not to mention the view down south of her very exposed pussy between her tempting thighs.

"Hey, focus." Asha snapped, and then she pointed a little ways down the beach, out in the sand away from the pier. "Bring all of my clothes and my shoes and meet me down there."

Julian was amazed at how completely casual Asha was about being naked, but he nodded. "Yeah, I can do that."

"Excellent." Asha said, and she turned to face the water, giving Julian a hell of a view of her big round bubble butt. It was a fat, prominent chocolate ass and damn did it look incredible.

Asha looked over her shoulder, and she grinned. "I'm glad she has her skin, you know. It'll make this a little more fair."

And then Asha effortlessly hopped over the railing, diving smoothly into the water below. As Julian watched, he saw a silvery blue fishtail slap against the water, and then she was gone, somewhere under the waves. Julian bent down to pick up Asha's flip flops, and then he looked down at the pile of clothes in his arms. How the hell was he going to explain walking back across the pier with an armful of girl clothes?

———

It took nearly an hour for Asha to come out of the ocean. He'd gone down to where she had pointed, and he sat down in the sand on a beach chair that had been set up already. There were a couple of them dotted along the coastline, and fortunately, Julian had one to sit on. He'd expected this to be a pretty short wait, but as the wait went on, Julian got antsy. Had Isla gotten away? She'd had quite a head start while Asha stripped, but Asha had been so confident about it.

He had Asha's clothes in his lap as he waited, idly scrolling on his phone while he waited. A couple people ed by as he waited, but Asha had pointed off a ways down the beach from any of the crowds. What they thought he was doing sitting on the beach while fully clothed all by himself, he had no idea, but he tried to just tune them out as he waited.

He took the opportunity to send another text to Abigail, hoping for a different result.

Abigail read the message a minute or two later, but she didn't respond. Julian scoffed, and he turned off his phone, sticking it back into his pocket as he waited. Abigail giving him the silent treatment was a new one, that wasn't usually her style. He must have really pissed her off this time. They'd been in arguments before, it was hard for people like them to not butt heads sometimes, but this one just felt more serious. Abigail had known he was lying to her, she'd shown up to try and help him, and he'd kicked her out with barely a word. Sure, he'd been severely suffering from silver poisoning at that point, but she didn't know that. Hell, it wouldn't give him an excuse if she did know, Abigail hadn't deserved that.

He was just trying to keep her safe. She had no idea how much he was protecting her from, of course, which was kind of the point. Abigail hated things being kept from her, she'd had to deal with way too many asshole cops who thought she didn't deserve her promotions. Her making detective especially had caused a fuss by all of the guys she'd beaten out for the position. Abigail had itted to him later that she'd been worried Julian would be an asshole too, but Julian had loved having Abigail as a partner. He wouldn't want anyone else beside him at all of those crime scenes, but of course, he couldn't tell Abigail that during the whole silver poisoning debacle without it meaning she stuck around. And he couldn't have that.

He was almost glad when Asha came splashing out of the ocean, as it cut him off from his ittedly depressing spiral of thoughts about how badly he'd fucked up his partnership with Abigail.

The jengu came striding out of the ocean, fully nude, her wet hair pasted down her back, water dripping from her body. That was bizarre enough, but her walking out of the ocean dragging a thrashing, wailing seal behind her was just downright crazy.

"Told ya I'd get her." Asha grinned. She was absolutely soaking wet, but she looked jubilant.

"That's Isla?" Julian checked.

"Yup." Asha said proudly, still grinning. "Take the skin. Make her your selkie wife if you want, I don't care."

"What?" Julian gaped.

"That's the whole shtick with them." Asha waved a hand. "They used to get their skins taken by horny guys in medieval times who were desperate for a seal babe of their very own."

"Oof, that's rough." Julian winced.

"True." Asha itted. "You've got my clothes?"

"Yeah. Bought a towel, too." he said, pointing.

"Dumb idea, I planned on airdrying this gorgeous body, but hey, if you want me to put on clothes faster, that's your call." Asha teased.

"Don't get dressed on my !" Julian protested, making the voluptuous jengu laugh.

Asha reached down and seized the seal in a pinching gesture, then in what was kind of disturbing to watch, she pulled. The sealskin came with her hand, and as she pulled it off, it revealed the slender blonde girl, still wearing a wetsuit. Julian guessed she wore it because it was skintight enough to stick with her when she shifted between seal and girl.

"You're so fast!" Isla complained, and Asha smirked.

"Amaya always said the same thing." Asha crowed, but then that seemed to sober her some as the reminder of her sister set in.

Asha thrust the selkie skin into Julian's hand, which was a strange black leathery substance. It felt pretty gross, Julian wasn't going to lie, and he didn't want to hold onto it for longer than he had to. As Asha went to towel off, Julian looked down at Isla laying in the sand, panting for air.

"Just tell us who's in danger." Julian said gently. "Then you can have this and swim off to wherever you want."

The selkie skin in his hand seemed to pulse somewhat, and Isla looked downright devastated as her mouth started moving.

"It's Alexandra Blackwood." Isla spat out like her own mouth had betrayed her. Julian looked down at the selkie skin, and he realized that he'd forced her to tell him with the skin. The thought repulsed him somehow, but Asha seemed unbothered as she came stalking back over, now wearing her lingerie and currently toweling her long dark hair.

"What did Amaya hear was going to happen to her?" Asha asked, but Isla laid in the sand with her lips clenched together.

"You ask her, she can't tell you no." Asha told Julian, but he shook his head.

"Forcing her like that... it's wrong." he insisted. An impatient Asha grabbed the skin from him and she repeated her question.

"Mr. Benning was groaning about her while he was fucking Amaya." Isla said, and it looked like the words were being dragged out of her mouth with a hook or something. "Amaya said he was pretty pent up about Alexandra Blackwood sexually, but he was talking about how she'd disrespected him or something. He-"

Isla bit her own lip to try and stop herself, but Asha scowled and repeated the question again more forcefully.

"He said he was going to stake her!" Isla spat. "Amaya said he wasn't making much sense, he was thinking too much with his other head, but he for sure said he was going to stake her, and said something about a... prize! Or, no, a gift!"

Julian froze, a stunned feeling washing over him. "That's the other rune."

"What?" Asha asked, looking to Julian.

"On the serial killer's victims' hands, there's always two runes. On the left hand, there's a rune that means harvest-"

"Like the Harvest Moon." Asha nodded. "I thought you reacted weird when Constance mentioned that at the Petal and Thorn."

"Yeah, but the other rune, the right hand... it's 'gift.'" Julian said, still shocked.

"Well, surely that's not a coincidence?" Asha asked incredulously.

"Can't be." Julian agreed. "Give Isla back her skin, I have enough. It's time to look into Benning."

"You sure you don't have any other questions?" Asha checked.

"None that I want to force out of her." Julian shook his head.

With a huff, Asha threw the skin at Isla. The blonde selkie caught it and went running right back into the ocean, diving beneath the waves and vanishing. Asha quickly got dressed as Julian turned this over in his head.

There were a lot of things connected to Cassius Benning. The Equinox Gala, the diamond in danger, the gift rune... maybe Miguel and Amaya had been targeted if Benning was somehow behind all of this. How did Benning fit with the men in the donkey and pig masks though? Had he hired them? He certainly had the money to do so, but what would be the motive in killing other supernaturals? Alexandra, he could understand, they were both rich and powerful and obviously had some bad blood, no vampiric pun intended. Miguel and Amaya made sense if Benning had caught wind of them trying to sneak into his party and interrupt his plans, but what about Jenna the witch? Or Robert and Anna Russell, the werewolf couple? Or Marina Davis, the nixie?

Julian had looked when he'd found out about Miguel and Amaya, but none of them connected to each other or to Benning, at least not on any level he'd been able to find out about. It just didn't make sense, for Benning to go from vendetta killings to killing strangers. There had to be something he was missing still. Benning was undeniably a person of interest now, but if he was the culprit, there was some more that needed explaining.

"So," a fully dressed Asha began. "what's next? Are we going after Benning?"

"Not today." Julian shook his head. "I need to learn more about who he is, what all of this might mean. There's too much that doesn't fit yet."

"More waiting?" Asha asked begrudgingly.

"Yeah, and you, under no circumstances, are to put yourself on Benning's radar in case he is behind these killings." Julian said firmly, pointing at the jengu. "Research is fine, asking around isn't. He likely has a lot of resources, and if he is the killer, he'll be keeping an eye on anyone getting close to solving that."

"Fine, I'll go home and sit patiently and wait for you to come save the day, alright, Detective?" Asha huffed.

"Look, I'll keep you posted with what I find out about Benning, and if I need you again, I'll let you know. But I don't want to put you in danger." Julian shook his head.

"I don't care about danger! I care about avenging Amaya!" Asha exclaimed.

"I know." Julian said, and he reached out to squeeze Asha's shoulder. "And I promise you, I will not cut you out of the investigation. Just give me some time to get some information together and we'll figure out a plan."

"We need in to that Gala." Asha pointed out.

"I've already got two invites to it." Julian itted. "I figured I'd need them."

"So, you and me are going in?" Asha asked hopefully.

"I'm not sure who my plus one is there yet, but I'll let you know." Julian sighed.

"Detective, please. It's my sister." Asha pleaded, and Julian nodded slowly.

"Alright, you can be my plus one then." Julian agreed. "But the deal is that you have to keep yourself off Benning's radar until the Gala. That's seven days, you'll be good?"

"I'll be great." Asha promised, beaming.

"OK. If anything weird happens, call me, alright?" Julian asked, and Asha nodded.

"I will. Thank you for coming and helping today." Asha smiled.

"I don't know if I really did much beside hold your clothes." Julian said wryly.

"Hey, that's an important job!" Asha protested. "And you put together all that stuff about the runes."

"And you caught her and dragged her back." Julian pointed out.

"Fine, we'll share the credit then." Asha shrugged. "I'll see you next week?"

"If not sooner." Julian nodded, and Asha smiled. She headed up the beach back towards the city and the parking lot, and Julian went to do the same.

He made it halfway up the beach before his phone buzzed. He pulled it out quickly, hoping it was Abigail, and to his relief, it was. He clicked the message immediately, and it pulled up the chat. The smile on his face dropped immediately as he took in the photo that Abigail had just sent him. Or rather... the photo that had just been sent from Abigail's phone. The photo was of Abigail, tied up on a chair, her arms and legs bound to the chair. Her lip was split open, her head was bleeding, and it looked like a bruise was forming across her cheek. She looked fiercely angry even so, though Julian knew her well enough to see the terror in her eyes.

Julian's fingers were practically trembling with rage, he could hardly type anything.

Julian could have screamed with rage, he could have ripped apart the nearest object or person, turned into a werewolf and lost his shit, but he found himself scarily calm as he dialed a phone number and lifted it to his ear.

"You've reached the Arcana Augurum, how can I help you?" Freya's cheery voice filled his ear.

"I need to speak to Romero. Right now."