“I know you are not accusing the gods of causing this,” he said quietly.
“Do you know of anyone else with the power to give the supernaturals these abilities?”
Harker bit his lip. He knew I had a point. But he stubbornly persisted in his denial. “It makes no sense. The gods are our protectors. They would not do anything to endanger the Earth’s citizens.”
He was wrong about that. Centuries ago, the gods had turned the Earth into a battleground between them and demons. They’d released monsters onto the Earth. They’d raised an army, the Legion of Angels, giving us powers to counter their enemies. And fight their battles.
I’d stood in the gods’ court, played their games, seen them bicker and make rulings based solely on their mood at the time, or based on how most to annoy the gods they were fighting. And I’d watched them discuss humanity with all the indifference of a farmer speaking about the animals he raised for slaughter. They absolutely would do this if the situation suited them.
“Regardless of who is behind this, we need to put a swift end to it,” declared Harker. “When the demons struck last time, the Legion killed all the tainted supernaturals infected by their power, but not before the death count was in the thousands. We need to head this off sooner this time.”
I remembered what Nero had said, that Harker was under pressure to prove himself, to prove that he could be an effective angel. He couldn’t afford a catastrophe in which thousands of people died.
“You are good at tracking people down,” Harker said to me in an ode to my days hunting down criminals. “Find the tainted supernaturals.”
“It doesn’t take a genius to track them down,” I told him. “You just follow the trail of blood and destruction. But what are we supposed to do when we find them? They are immune to everything we’ve got.”
“Everyone has a weakness. We just need to find it. And we can start by figuring out how this happened.” He looked at Nerissa. “Have you learned anything from the elemental’s body?”
“There are no traces of Nectar or Venom in her blood.”
Harker gave me a victorious look. Ok, so the gods hadn’t done it—this time. But that didn’t mean they wouldn’t do it. Harker might be blinded by his faith in the gods, but my eyes were wide open. They’d tried to turn my death into a lesson for Nero. Experiences like that tended to give a person a unique perspective into the gods’ minds.
“Other than the absence of Nectar and Venom, I don’t know anything useful yet,” Nerissa continued. “I need to study the body further. It would help if I had more samples. Live samples.” She looked at me.
“If you could tell me what hurts them, I might be able to get you one,” I told her. “But they seem to become more resilient with every passing moment.”
“I’ll do my best. At this point, I can’t even figure out how this change was possible. I have no idea where they got all this magic. I need time.”
“You don’t have time,” Harker told her.
Nerissa sighed. “Tell me something I don’t know.”
Leaving the witch in Ivy’s care, she turned her attention to Drake. He had a serious bite from the vampire. She swiped the wound and dropped the sample into a vial. Then she healed Drake’s wound with a few drops of potion.
“Go back to your room to rest and recover,” she ordered him.
“Hey, I need him. Where am I going to find someone for my team who possesses both muscle and a sense of humor?” I teased.
“I take issue with that,” protested Alec. “I possess both muscle and humor in generous quantities.”
“I’ll be back before you know it,” Drake told me, then he left the room.
Nerissa looked at the hole in Alec’s shirt.
A smile curled his lips. “Checking me out, Doc?”
“No.” She peeled back the torn leather to look at the skin beneath. “There’s no wound, but I can tell there used to be,” she said, wiping away the blood. “What happened?”
“The vampire pushed a pole through me.”
“And your body healed that wound?”
“Leda healed it with some funky powder that made my insides feel like they were imploding.”
Nerissa’s fingers brushed across a bite wound on his arm. “It looks like a vampire bite. It’s not serious.”
“Of course not. I knocked the bloodsucker against a building before he could drink from me.”
Nerissa poured a potion over the wound.
“What is the matter with you two?!” Alec howled.
“I am simply healing you,” Nerissa said serenely.
“It didn’t look like it hurt so much when you healed Drake.”
“Maybe Drake is just tougher than you are.”
Alec scowled at her.
“I need theories. Any theories,” Harker said to Nerissa.
He sounded stressed, strained. He knew Nero was evaluating him. And I knew Harker genuinely didn’t want anyone to get hurt. He believed the gods were protecting humanity too. I wasn’t sure anything could rob him of that delusion.
“The absence of Nectar or Venom doesn’t mean the gods or demons aren’t interfering,” said Nerissa. “Supernaturals don’t have Nectar or Venom in them, but they do have magic. It’s just there’s never been anyone with the powers of multiple supernaturals, not besides a soldier of the Legion or a soldier of hell. We didn’t think such a feat was possible without Nectar or Venom.”
“It isn’t possible for long. They eventually lose their minds.” I chewed on that thought. “Maybe the powers aren’t the purpose of this. Maybe they are only a side effect. Maybe the insanity and out-of-control supernaturals wreaking havoc is the point.”
“You think this is an attack?” Harker asked me.
I shrugged. “It sure as hell isn’t a present. An attack is as good a theory as any.”
“How was this condition spread?” He looked at Nerissa.
“A poison perhaps. Or a disease.”
“So this condition could be contagious?”
Glass shattered. Charlotte the witch had jumped up onto the counter, displacing glass beakers. She launched herself off the table at Alec and slapped him hard across the room. She was strong. Too strong. Elemental magic burst out of her.
Harker and I ducked behind a table.
“It appears the condition is contagious,” I said to him.
“And you brought this here, to my office,” he hissed at me.
“How was I supposed to know? Honestly, you really can’t make up your mind. First, you want us to bring in people for questioning, and then you don’t.”
“This isn’t funny, Pandora.”
“I’m not laughing, Harker.”
I peeked over the table and shot a bolt of dark lightning at Charlotte. The witch stumbled back, hissing in pain. My second attack, however, didn’t push her back as far.
“This is the beginning of the transformation,” I commented. “Her power is ramping up. We need to contain her before she grows too powerful.”
Lightning shot off of Charlotte in every direction. More beakers shattered as lights exploded overheard. Tables and chairs tumbled over. The witch bolted for the window.
“She’s trying to get away!” I shouted.
Ivy jumped up, calling out, “Charlotte!”
The witch hesitated for just a moment. It was enough. Nero rushed into the room, grabbing her by the collar.
“This witch is bizarrely strong,” he commented with perfect calmness as she kicked her legs wildly, trying to get free. He pushed the air out of the witch’s lungs until she passed out.
Nero turned to Harker. “Is this how you run my office?” he demanded.
Harker didn’t dispute that this was his office now. He wiped the blood from his lip. Then he grabbed the sleeping witch and dropped her on Nerissa’s desk.
“Here. You have your live sample now,” he told her. “Study the change in action. Figure this out.”
17 Leaders of the Supernatural World
The next morning, I woke up early to spend a few hours running on the track. It was good training, but that wasn’t the only reason I did it. It also helped me think.