Heart of Glass [manxman]

Chapter Seventeen

Louis whistled loudly, briskly waving a hand to shoot a signal to round up.

"Damn it, Blanc, why don't you watch your fucking left?" I demanded, breaking quickly from my front to help him, then went back only to get the gun ripped from my hands, my wrist twisted, making me hiss. I jerked back, kicking the demon in the stomach, sending him to the floor, flat on his ass. I stretched out my other hand, calling the gun back to me.

"You okay?"

"I'm fine."

"You're full of shit too," Louis said.

I rolled my eyes. "Shut up and get everyone together. This is starting to be a losing battle fast."

"Oh, not in the mood for witty banter during demon slaying now, are you?"

"If getting your blood didn't mean a visit from the third scariest demon in the last century, I swear to the gods, I'd stop covering your left right about now." I stopped, looking up as I noticed everyone had made their way to the center to file in around Louis and I.

"All right, guys, we're going to teleport back in three, two—"

The fight vanished, replaced by the conference room, right where Rainier had eyes.

"We can't talk in here. Rainier's got the room bugged. Let's move." Without so much as waiting for an acknowledgement, I trekked across the hallway to Louis's office and waited on the others.

Slowly, they all filed in with their masks off. Louis looked more than slightly confused. "Rainier's got it bugged?"

I nodded. "They had up a wall of cameras near my cell. The conference room, investigative's meeting room, my apartment, and the administrative offices were all being monitored. They knew you were coming."

"Makes sense why it was so easy," Louis said. The others nodding in agreement. "It was like they were directing us to where we needed to be with very little interference."

"What's getting me is how many of our assignments may have been setups or diversions. What are they doing behind the scenes? What do we actually need to be worried about?" I took a deep breath, trying to calm myself down. There was just so much to process, so many unknowns. Gods. "At the very least, they still don't have the Aquireign emperor fully resurrected, which makes this significantly easier."

"If they use the partial, we're still going to be in for a difficult fight."

"For as long as it can last. The more magic is used during it's time back, the more energy it uses, so it won't have enough to fight us and sustain life here for an extended period of time."

Louis grimaced. "He's smarter than that though."

"Being dead for a while and getting to experience the world of the living is addictive. There's always the chance that he's not going to be able to hold himself back and think clearly."

"I'm not putting all my eggs in that basket, so we need to come up with something else, something that gives us better numbers so we have a chance against him," Louis said.

I nodded, folding my arms over my chest. "Well, first thing's first, we've got to get more barriers around the campus." I leaned against his desk, pressing the small of my back against it, breathing deeply. Maybe it was more than a mild panic attack. I really didn't feel so well. "Tonight, we can put the barriers in place so we're covered if Rainier decides to attack and inform the others of the cameras. Tomorrow, we can meet, do a briefing, come up with something." I cocked a brow at Louis, making it more of a question since he was the one with the authority. Not to mention, I'd done enough damage that day. There was no reason to step on his toes when it came to calling orders within Unit 01.