Amalgamate

Chapter 74

Dugald woke to a loud knocking on the front door of his establishment. His mind was cloudy and he had no recollection of what had happened to him. As he stood to make his way to the door, he saw Skylar sprawled out on the floor.

The banging was growing progressively louder, inciting a headache. He opened the door to find himself standing toe to toe with Declan, and he looked pissed.

"Where have you been? I'm not a patient man, Dugald, but then again you already know that." He held the demon's gaze. Dugald looked different, his eyes were glazed over.

"What are you talking about?" Jesus, he felt like absolute shit. Dugald literally could not remember the last few hours. His mind was completely void. He rubbed his eyes and then opened them wide trying to clear the fog. It was a different foggy than when he drank. It was hard for him to get knee walkin' drunk because demons burned the alcohol off so fast, so he always remembered everything when he drank.

"Look at me." Declan put his palm to Dugald's cheek, clammy. He was sweating and his clothes were soaked through. Had he been poisoned? "You see anyone tonight?" Declan continued to observe the demon's body until he found it, fang marks in his neck.

But, these marks were different. They weren't vampire fangs. They were thin and short. It was a dainty bite, and when he leaned in farther he smelled the venom. He'd heard the stories, but he'd never actually seen her. Never believed anything like her even existed...until now. She'd come out of the shadows for this? Why?

"Uh, last thing I remember...Skylar and I were here with...I really don't know..." Dugald was trying to regain his composure. Clearly something or someone was here and had erased his memory, which was no easy feat.

"You were holding something for me. Do you remember?" Declan's thoughts went to a much darker place.

Skylar started to stir on the floor, "Jesus my head hurts. What the hell did we drink?"

"I don't think you were drinking. Check your neck. Do you have puncture wounds, too?" Declan pushed his way past Dugald. Sure enough Skylar's neck had been bitten as well. Same puncture wounds, same venom.

Skylar felt around his neck. His fingertips settled on the small raised puncture wounds. "Had to be a female. They're too close together to be from any kind of male."

"I think you're right about that." Declan had heard stories of a serpent woman who rumor had it worked for Vertigen. She had reptilian features and exceptionally proficient mind control abilities. It would explain how she got in undetected and how she subdued her victims. The venom had to be extremely potent to knock out a demon of Dugald's size, and clearly she had an abundant supply because she'd bitten and subdued them both. He knew Vertigen would be after Rowan, but this was way too close.

"I was here with a woman. I remember that much." Skylar walked to the bathroom to splash cold water on his face, trying to shake off the haze that lingered .

"Who was it Declan?" Dugald decided to eat something maybe that would get rid of the nausea he was experiencing. Opening the door to the fridge he watched Declan retrieve his cell phone.

"I don't know her name, but one guess who she works for." Declan ordered his men and the hunting party to meet him back at his club. This was a game changer. If Vertigen had the boy it was only a matter of time before he'd have Rowan, too, and Declan wouldn't allow that.

"Vertigen..." Dugald hadn't seen him in over ten years. He'd been quiet in this realm. Almost non-existent in fact, since his experiments went south about a decade ago. "What does this mean for us?"

"It means you best be on your A-game demon, and even more importantly, you better choose your friends carefully." Declan hadn't gone head to head with a creature as powerful as Vertigen in some time. In truth, he was hoping to avoid him altogether.