Courts and Cabals by G.S. D'Moore (best e reader for academics txt) 📕

had people watching my back now. Jerome, Brad, and Makaylah were great, but they couldn’t stand up to a pissed off Fae. Only the cabal could.

“My cabal.”

***

Vernon entered the Director’s office calmly. This time he’d been invited and had an appointment. The secretary still gave him a cross look as he walked past her. She’d never gotten over how he bulldozed over her last time. Unfortunately, he was learning the hard way not to disrespect the assistants and secretaries of powerful people. They help the keys to the schedules, opened many doors, and he’d suddenly found the Director booked up for weeks before she could see him.

“Hopefully there’s good news,” he thought as he gave the middle-aged woman a friendly smile.

“Agent Dud,” the Director was clicking away on her computer, but she spared a moment to point at a seat.

It had been about a month since he’d burst in here, and aside from transcripts from the surveillance team, there had been zero movement in the Dupree case. That was frustrating. It was the only case assigned to him that wasn’t making any progress. He hated having any red in his ledger.

The Director continued to type away for a few more seconds before sending the email. “Good news,” she turned to face him. “The judge sided with us.”

“Yes,” he did a little fist pump to the Director’s amusement.

“The cabal’s lawyers weren’t expecting the surveillance transcripts and sworn statements of our agents. We met the threshold for immediate threat to life or limb of an American citizen. The State Department is also reaching out to the Fae, but they’re not even answering the phone. That’s above your paygrade, but what we do have is authorization to begin the deep dive.”

“Can we expedite it?” Vernon was already thinking of subtle and more aggressive approaches to confront Mr. Dupree.

“It’s at the top of the list, but it’s still going to take at least a month,” she replied, much to his displeasure. “Don’t look glum, Vernon,” she gave him a knowing look. “We’re going to wrap this all up in a nice little bow for the prosecutors. We’ll hit the cabal where it hurts. Embarrass the Fae enough to maybe get them to back off a little, and get this Dupree character. Whatever he’s up to, his time is running out.”

“I’ll be on the first flight up there,” he started to stand, but a sharp glance from the Director made him plant his ass back in the seat.

“Not yet,” she held up a hand to forestall his objection. “It’s going to take time to get all the data in and procure the warrants. At a glance, if the labs hit their standard turnaround time frames, we’ll be able to nab everyone involved just before this idiotic trial by combat nonsense. Until then, I’ve got other jobs for you.”

A ping sounded, and he pulled out his tablet. “Vampires?” he quirked an eyebrow. Despite popular fiction, there was not some big beef between werewolves and vampires, so there was no overwhelming hatred on his part.

“There’s a new coven up in Seattle getting uppity,” she informed. “Most of this generation has gone the veggie route with humans; something we actively encourage, but a few swung the opposite way. They’re spouting the same old ‘we’re better than you’ crap, but they’re backing it up. ATF is pretty sure they’ve gathered a small arsenal, and every vamp in Washington state who thinks like they do is involved. That’s still only sixty or so, but with enough firepower, and the illegal drugs they’re running, it’s enough for us to get involved and come down on them hard.”

Vernon read the profile with a grimace. The coven was flooding the streets with V: the unoriginally-named synthetic drug that was part ecstasy, part vampire blood. It was extremely addictive and had the side effect of producing blood slaves.

Turning a human being into a vampire wasn’t quite what writers had claimed it to be. At its core, vampirism was a virus, and enough of the virus needed to get into a human bloodstream to take over. The problem was, the human body’s immune system was a powerful weapon against anything, including vampirism. For a healthy human to undergo the change, they’d have to chug about a gallon of vampire blood in under five minutes, and not puke it all up. If someone was sick or weak, it took less; which was how the whole ‘change someone on the verge of death’ myth started.

People who drank vampire blood, but didn’t change became highly addicted to the substance, and therefore, the vampire who produced it. It was a little ironic that vampires with a taste for world domination ended up giving up as much blood as they drank, but that was how it really worked.

“Sixty vamps and probably three times as many blood slaves,” Vernon whistled. “That’s going to be rough. I’ll need some heavy firepower.”

“You’ll have it, but you’re there to keep the UN’s foot in the door. DOJ has the lead. The local FBI branch is calling in their HRT team. They did the leg work, and want credit for taking these assholes down; so, you’ll have another dozen supernaturals on hand. Everyone from local PD to you is involved in this. It’ll be one of the biggest operations in the last decade. The mayors already pissed, but the President and Secretary General told her to shove it.”

Vernon couldn’t help but grin. He wanted to clear up the mess at St. Vincent’s, but the wolf in him was thrilled at the prospect of such a big challenge.

“You’re on the first flight out in the morning,” the Director turned back to her computer. “I’ll make sure you’re kept in the loop with Dupree, but we’re in a holding pattern there until late December.”

He took the hint and took his leave. He was itching