~BOOK 4/PART ONE~ Paranormal: The Battle's Only Just Begun (Multi-Bandom FanFic)

Chapter 8

Brendon sat at the table with the area's pack leaders, his one hand holding his head up and the fingers of the other tapping the table, as if he was playing an imaginary piano. He wore a bored expression on his face and his eyes followed the beta - acting as alpha, now - who was pacing back and forth at the head of the table, running his hands through his hair as he listened to everyone's ideas, taking none of them into consideration. The only thing his mind could focus on was Kenya. He never fared well when she was gone.

"We have to think like the demon would," One of the elders said, leaning back in his chair and folding his hands over his stomach, "That's the only way we're going to take him down. We need to get inside his head. What would we do? Who would we make our hosts?"

"Probably the most powerful people in New Orleans," Another one agreed, sitting forward, "We know Patrick's out of the question, since he was already possessed, but what about that witch of his? Rachael?"

"Rachael wouldn't be so stupid as to let a demon take her soul," Brendon chimed in, attracting all of the werewolves' attentions, "Besides, demons inhabit people with desires they don't act upon. Rachael's no good. If she wants something, she does what she needs to to get it."

"Oh sure," Bruno replied sarcastically, stopping in his tracks and turning towards the wizard, "That's why she's jumped at the opportunity to be with you."

Brendon's eyes narrowed. "Well at least she hasn't left me like Kenya's left you."

"Boys!" The elder who spoke first snapped, glaring at the two of them. "Stop fighting, would you? This is a serious issue; we don't have time to argue over stupid things like this. There's a demon out there and the longer we wait to do something, the more people the demon's going to take under his wing, and before we know it, this whole city's going to be possessed. So I want you to put your differences aside, and - unless you've got an idea on how to solve this problem - shut the fuck up."

"I don't even know why I was brought here," Brendon grumbled, crossing his arms over his chest, "It's not like I know the first thing about saving a city."

"Yes, but you're a wizard," Bruno muttered in response, "You know more than we do about conjuring evil spirits and then getting rid of them."

"Oh yes, because I spent years studying demons and everything about them," The wizard retorted, sarcasm dripping from his mouth.

"What did I tell you two?" The elder wolf yelled.

"He started it!" Bruno shouted childishly, throwing his hand in Brendon's direction.

"Actually, you're the one who started it, for bringing me here in the first place."

The high-official wolf heaved a sigh of defeat and covered his face with his hands.

"Brendon," The second elder wolf said, bringing the wizard's gaze to hers, "Bruno's right. You know more about demons than we do, so we need you. You won't just be helping us, you'll be helping all of New Orleans. You'll be helping Rachael." She tacked on the last part, knowing it would hit a soft spot in Brendon. She was successful.

The wizard let out a long sigh. "Look, demons...they're complicated creatures. You can't underestimate them, because the second you think you've caught on to what they're doing, they change everything within the blink of an eye. They know how to sneak their way around situations, go unnoticed. They're master manipulators. I mean...you could be possessed and not even know it because the demon lays low and only comes out when it feels necessary. I mean, you wouldn't know that I've got one."

A collective gasp passed over the small group, some of the member's eyes even doubled in size, except for Bruno who only rolled his eyes in annoyance.

"But I thought you're a wizard," One of the elders commented.

"It doesn't matter who or what you are - demons don't discriminate. A host is a host. But when I was younger, I was messing around with spells one day and - low and behold - one of those little fuckers latched onto me." Brendon folded his hands on the table, a smirk crawling onto his face as he reminisced about the past. "It was absolute torture the first few months, the constant whisper in my ear, the never-ending conflict within myself...I thought I was going mad. But after a while, I learned to control it. Rachael's mom tried to remove it at one point, but she wasn't successful. The demon was too attached to me, and the exorcism only upset it - so don't think that's going to be the end all be all, some mass exorcism."

"Then what do want us to do?" One of the elders who had yet to speak inquired.

"I don't know," The wizard confessed, "That was a long long time ago. The demon inside of me is old; it knows better than to act out of line when I don't want it to. But learning to control and tame a demon takes years to do, and we don't have years. The demons that the one that possessed Patrick is bringing back are young, passionate, and they're dying to get a second chance at life. In other words, they have their eye on the prize and they're going to do whatever it takes to win that prize."

"So you're basically saying that there's no way for us to defeat this, because we don't know how many or who is a part of this demon's army."

Brendon laughed. "You don't know how good it is for me to know that at least one of you isn't completely brain-dead." Bruno shook his head in disgust and left the room, slamming the door behind him. The wizard heaved a sigh and stood up. "Well, since Mr. Asshat left, I think it's time for me to leave too. I'll see you all tomorrow or better yet, never." Brendon walked out of the room and went to go down the hallway when he saw Bruno pacing back and forth with a cellphone in his hand. There wasn't a conversation on the other end, so he was leaving a message.

"Kenya, babe, please call me back," He pleaded into the speaker, "I'm worried sick about you. You haven't returned any of my calls and I don't whether or not you're safe. Please, call me back."

"You know," Brendon stated, clasping his hands behind his back and approaching the werewolf, "Begging a girl to call you back doesn't make her want to call you back any more than she already doesn't."

"Why are you still here?" Bruno snapped.

"Well, you're my prison guard. I'm kind of obligated to be around you, so that I don't 'act out or do anything stupid like I normally would'."

"God if it wasn't for Kenya, I would kill you right now," He mumbled while rubbing his forehead.

"I'm trying to help you here, man," I told him, snatching the phone from his hands, "Calling Kenya a million times is only going to make her more angry."

"You don't know how to defeat this growing problem we have, so from what I see, you're useless. Furthermore..." Bruno snatched the phone back. "...I need her help on this; she would know best on what to do."

"Right, because Kenya's an expert on dealing with demons," The wizard replied sarcastically.

"She knows more than a lot of we do. She's seen more."

"She doesn't know more than me," He argued, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Doesn't make you any less useless."

Brendon scoffed. "How useless can I be when I'm the most direct help you're going to get?"