Clasp {Book Two of the Deathly Consequences Series}

Chapter 10

It's official. Julienne is no longer my assistant. She's Samael's bitch now.

I shuffled through the endless pages of data about the Guild's financials, Member's personal requests on whatever they fucking wanted from me, and current info on the Clans while Julienne merrily played away with my son. We were in his nursery, a room I'm more than happy about letting the fucking decorating team decorate, as I slaved away. After the umpteenth giggle from Julienne, I blew out a harsh breath through my nose and flung the papers away from me in disgust. Godsfuckingdamn, that was a lot of bullshit to read.

Julienne looked up from where she was sprawled a few feet away trying to coax Samael to roll on his own. She scrambled to her feet, trying to catch the multitude of papers fluttering to the ground.

"I spent hours organizing that!" She groaned with dismay. I snorted, unsympathetic to her plight. Gods, my brain nearly melted trying to decipher all that shit.

"If you just tell me what it all said then maybe I wouldn't have tossed it." I barked back. Call me childish but I said from the start that I was no Leader. And fuck my life, but Julienne has me hardwired on being spoiled rotten. I was lost on these so-called organized papers. It was all pig Latin to me.

As a testament that Julienne changed a lot as we got closer to one another, she shot me a frustrated look without pissing her pants. Sure she still wore her baggy hoodies and leggings, but she was no longer a mouse in my presence. One on one, the girl sassed as much as I did once she crawled out of her shell. My tendency to not give a fuck about Leaderly duties was something that annoyed her to no end, and my bitch ass didn't give a lick of care in regards to remedy that annoyance. The Guild chugged along just fine without me, and despite my initial worries, there has been no contact from the Clans. Seems like the Quad has finally put on their big boy panties and have controlled their relative members. Now I just had to get rid of this gnawing sense of foreboding in my gut and my world will be as right as rain.

"According to Advisor Leith, the flow of income into the Guild's treasury is steady and growing thanks to many acceptances of jobs within the Guild. Nina Volk and many other young Members have put in a formal complaint of harassment from Tiffany Leith, Jenna Daimon, Lisa Hardstad, and Melanie Frey. Advisor Leith and Elder Yasmina have already heard this complaint and want to pass the final checks of punishment through you before acting."

"Fuck. The Bitch Squad are still at it?" I grumbled, but Julienne continued spouting off all the information I asked for. Something I fucking sorely regretted now if my oncoming migraine had anything to say about it.

"Elder Grezelda Klaus has also expressed concerns over the recent disappearance of her grandson, Justin Klaus. After leaving for his part-time job at a local gas station in NightShade, she hasn't heard from him in over 24 hours. She's put in a formal request for your aide in the search for him."

Now that had my attention.

"Which gas station does he work at?" I asked.

Julienne picked through the scattered papers for a couple minutes, muttering under her breath about all her hard work going to waste before holding up what she wanted with a dramatic 'ah-hah!'. I tapped the arm of the oak rocking chair I currently sat in with impatience as she scanned the page. I tensed when Julienne paled, her doe eyes nearly bulging out of her skull.

"The one just off the main road on the west side of town." She whispered fearfully, glancing up at me with concern.

Ice ran through my veins.

Feeling the sudden drop in temperature, Samael cried out for warmth and attention from the toy littered blanket on the floor. Julienne scooped him up in a second, cradling him close with a soothing whisper while I gripped the armrests of the rocking chair so hard the wood creaked.

"The Pack." I growled, my dark magic bubbling insidiously within my chest at the thought of one of my Members falling prey to my enemies.

I rose from the chair slowly, my dual magic riding me hard as Julienne stared at me warily. Inside, I raged. My magic calling for justice while my mind sought up a course of action. If Justin Klaus was truly in the claws of the Pack, I would've been notified by now. If Ulfa and Raul were still fighting for supremacy in the Pack hierarchy, I would've been given a sign. A call for war. Fucking something. Not my own fucking Member, a godsdamn Elder for Goddessake, prodding me for a search party. No, something was off here. Rafe had always been a hands on type of guy. He would never stoop to a hostage situation to cause chaos. If my old friend wanted a fight, he would damn sure start it himself.

"Send an inquiry to the Pack. Let them, and only them, know that there is a missing Member of my Guild who disappeared right outside their boundaries. I don't want the fucking Clans having a hay day over one less 'Necromancer' in the world. It will only cause an idiotic shitstorm and drive the Guild into a mindless panic." I ordered Julienne, reaching down to pluck up my son so she could immediately do what I fucking asked.

Julienne wasted no time, bolting for the door. But she paused for a moment, twisting around to face me. I ignored the tremble of her lips and the blanched pallor of her skin, focusing only on the determined glint in her soft brown eyes.

"Shall I tell them anything else Mistress?"

I mulled it over silently, rage shimmering underneath my skin as I calmly sat back in my rocking chair with my son. I admired Samael's face for a couple of seconds, my expressionless mask reflecting in his pure sea blue eyes as he cooed and gripped one of my long locks of midnight colored hair. Then I looked up at Julienne. I don't know what she saw in my crimson eyes but it made her shudder, a shadow of her former self hovering over her shoulders before she shook her head and steeled her spine. Good, she needed that steel for protection on what's to come.

"Tell them if that boy is on their fucking Pack lands then they will get the war we've all been waiting on." I threatened in a sinister tone I barely recognized.

Julienne nodded, sprinting out of sight and leaving me alone with my boy.

I rocked gently with Samael in my arms, humming quietly under my breath. It was a song I thought I long forgotten. Something my mother used to sing to me when nights were suspiciously dark and I thought the only monsters that plagued me were under my bed. She used to lay beside me for hours, stroking my cheek and protecting me from the darkness. Her song used to be what I ached for in the early nights alone after she passed. The fact that I remember those nights of her were a blessing. Now, it's something I cherish to share with my son. My heir. My legacy.

Gods help this world if something or someone were to ever take him from me. Let it only be my blood spilt on the living plane in this oncoming war.

Because war was coming. Whether I wish against it or the Quad wishes for it, it was unpreventable. And no amount of old memories and buried feelings can stop it now.

To be continued...