Night Touched

Asher

    It had been a long ride down to Boston from Maine. I had not wanted to be sent on this errand in the first place. I understood what it meant to my Father; to follow within his footsteps, and maintain the family legacy he had built. I had been sent to the city for a few reasons; my Father had wanted to show a display of power, before the corporate acquisition of real estate properties along the shoreline, and also to show the future of the Aurora pack.

    The merger served a two fold purpose; both bringing in more revenue for the Institute and as show of strength to the packs within the region. They were to be reminded of  their place within the councils hierarchy, submitting to Alpha Dmitri's orders and to fall in line appropriately.

     What I hadn't understood was why my Father had sent Sergei, to accompany me South, along with my small security detail for the trip. Sergei worked as my Fathers enforcer and often was sent to settle more "delicate" matters of both pack and corporate business. I pitied whoever ended up on his bad side. After the merger meeting had gone successfully; Sergei and I had celebrated with a round of drinks and he let slip that he was sent by my father to investigate an occult related murder at a Culinary school.

    "Apparently, her liver was removed and she had the sigil of Chaos drawn on her in her blood. A human too...your Father wants to make sure its handled appropriately; so that the Night Touched community on the East Coast understand everything is under control, and so that the human investigators stay in their lane." Sergei had said.

    "I knew there had to be a bigger reason for you coming with me. My Father never does anything without an ulterior motive behind it." I said with a touch of acid in my voice. I understood that this was a tenuous time with the merger in the final stages. We couldn't afford to have any wild cards causing havoc; let alone ritualistic murder scenes, that could get humans involved.

    As it stood anyways, the Mages had only fallen in line within the last decade. Thanks, in no small part, to my Father's aggressively shrewd business dealings. The Lunar Festival next month, marked the ten year anniversary of allowing them to finally join the board at the Institute. The lesser werewolf packs hadn't been pleased with that, at the beginning, cause it moved them further down the corporate ladder.

    The Aurora pack were were well known among the Night Touched community for being strong shapeshifters; the more animal forms you could master the more powerful you were both within the pack hierarchy and also within the company. It shamed the second class werewolf packs, that they could only change into their wolf form. The addition of Mages to the Institute had solidified the hold the Aurora pack had over the Northeast and parts of Eastern Canada by bolstering the ranks, and extending the influence of the Board further within the supernatural community.

    "Anything I can help you with on your errand?" I knew how important keeping our world secret from the humans was.

    "Actually yes, I have to go meet with an informant at Nebula tonight, so it would certainly be less suspicious if I arrived under the pretense of escorting you around." Sergei had suggested.

    "Isn't Nebula that underground Hedge Witch club?" I asked. I had heard of it and guessed it wouldn't be such a terrible evening at least there would be drinks.

    Sergei sneered replying, "That's the one, full of all manner of Night Touched clientele. A good place to question my informant, amongst our own kind. Plus, with it being a full moon tonight you know it will be busy."

    Ugh, it was a full moon tonight, I thought, knowing that everyone's wolf would be on the edge in such a venue. I chuckled, "Well I suppose we should give these lesser packs a taste of true power, shouldn't we?"