Heart of the Demon

Epilogue



Bartholomew Maxwell “Ash” Asher stared at the TV screen in the employee lounge at council HQ. The news had been going nonstop for almost twenty-four hours, following the occurrence of the rift and newest influx of preternaturals. Several amateur videos had already run that showed an actual habitation of a human by a being from another dimension.

No one could see the incorporeal entity, but the shock to the human’s system and the disorientation and confusion were plain to see. The fallout from this latest rift was just as easy to determine—with dozens of local people affected, the human government would move forward with their plan to forcibly implant microchips into preternaturals, their way of “protecting” themselves.

Ash gave a snort. Yeah, right. It was the humans’ way of keeping tabs on wild animals and nothing more. Well, he’d be damned before he let someone stick a hunk of metal in his arm or anywhere else for that matter. He was his own master, and he didn’t need to be GPSed like some damn pet. Or car.

The council was in disarray after the last two presidents were removed from office in quick succession. The first, Deoul Arias, who was murdered by the second, Caladh MacLoch, who now awaited trial in the cells in the basement of the building. Ash had been tempted to go down and talk to the councilor, to try and figure out why he’d done what he’d done. Or, at least, what he was accused of doing. Ash trusted Tobias Caine and Victoria Joseph, and both of them seemed confident of Caladh’s guilt.

But right now he had bigger issues to deal with. All liaisons did. They had to get out on the street and round up newly turned preternaturals before they could hurt anyone, or themselves. They had brand-new lives to get used to, abilities and predilections they’d never before experienced.

Ash shoved his hands in his pockets and stalked from the room. It was time to get to work.