Chapter 136 - Dogs Bark, The Caravan Moves

I knew by now that Ghost wasn't stupid, but he had a special attitude toward social subtleties. In this case, it showed itself in a bright grin and way too sharp look. "I'm not tired at all! And as a teacher, it's my responsibility to keep an eye on my pupils, isn't it?" he half-hugged me and added an affectionate pat on my head and a short laughter to it.

The guy was laying it thicker than "War and Peace", and this book had four volumes.

Captain didn't look impressed at all by Ghost's attitude, but whatever he wanted to say was interrupted by Desmond, who strode towards us with an angry smile on his face. "Ah, the eavesdroppers. Just the people I need. So much for guarding secrets, isn't it?"

He gave a side-wise glance at the gathered council. "I know all about you I need to know. Your precious eyes can protect your kin against hypnosis, but I don't like to use it even on simple humans when there are much more interesting methods of getting answers. I had enough of your pointless posturing."

"Diana… Ghost," Desmond effortlessly pushed Captain aside to step in front of us, making me instinctively wish to step back. The only thing that stopped me was Ghost's hand on my shoulder. He wasn't hugging me anymore, but his palm was still there. "We are going to inspect the summoning chamber. A fledgling arch-witch is just whom I would need to get there… It's you, after all, isn't it?"

And here I hoped he wouldn't know, but considering that my name was on every witch's lips, it was an empty hope.

"They aren't under your authority, vampire!" Captain's grit out, clenching his fists.

Katya stood up from her seat to throw a scorching look at Desmond's back. "You are just a guest here. Don't overstep your bounds."

It was clear as the day for me that neither side was ready to accept defeat yet. Considering that Desmond, unlike witches, could argue for days without a break, it felt even more pointless to me. I threw a glance at the witches' council.

They looked tired, too, with sagged eyes and pale faces. But they looked full of grim determination and stubborn pride. This was 'witches versus vampires' thing, and even if they couldn't decide a single thing amongst themselves without a day of debates, all witches wordlessly and unanimously united against Desmond.

Suddenly, I felt pity for him… No, for this society in general. Yes, Desmond was an ass who revelled in scaring people to death, and pretty sure torturing them to death, too—but if there was any other vampire in his place, witches would've acted just the same.

More than that, they were acting stupidly because of their racial disputes, and this cost people their health and, possibly, lives. I was sure that not a single witch would appreciate my actions, at least not a single witch who sat here and now, but someone had to do things. That someone didn't have to be a saint to do them.

I gave Desmond an equally angry smile. "Sure, Desmond, lead the way. Ghost, are you with us?"

"Of course, Diana! There might be more wounded." The man didn't even hesitate.

Captain reached for Desmond's arm, but his glare was turned at me. "You can't just—"

"Don't touch me, and I won't have to touch you again," Desmond's icy glare stopped Captain mid-motion, only to freeze the rest of the council the next moment. "You aren't stopping me from getting what I came from, and I insist you don't follow to meddle with the scene even more. But don't worry. I'm will be sure to rely you the information I had afterwards… in the spirit of cooperation."

With a last smug smirk, Desmond walked out, slapping the door behind him and forcing me to jog to catch up with him. When I turned around, I saw a bunch of witches stumble out of the room, following us with their eyes and their voices, but nothing more.

"So, where is it? What did you find out?" I asked Desmond when we turned around a corner.

"According to the statements of the witnesses, the demon floated down the side hallways of the first floor until it reached the main hall, blasting the doors out of its way, but not the walls, and mutating most people it met—but not everyone. Because at the time of the breach, an evacuation alarm sounded, people ran instead of trying to resist, which was good for them. The demon, until now, only acted out in lethal ways in self-defence," Desmond recited briskly.

That was good, but not perfect, since I've seen how the demon's 'non-lethal' ways looked like in all too much details. The body-horror was still there when I closed my eyes, so it was a good thing I didn't do it much yet. Even if there were few things I wanted more than to just crash down.

One of them was finding out what the demon was. Another was not adding any more body horror to what I already had, so I didn't ask what the lethal ways of the demon were. Ghost didn't do that, either.

"The route the demon took was already confirmed. It left a clear magical trail. What I have a problem with is opening the way to the summoning chamber itself. It's hidden by a spell that demon didn't destroy, and I suspect it's in a subspace. You will find and open it."

"Ghost, do you know a lot about subspaces?" I asked, hoping for a good answer. An answer I would like.

He hummed. "It's hard to say. My memory is fuzzy on that… Maybe I know, but forgot that I know. That happens very often! We will just have to wait and see."

I sighed. Maybe Desmond didn't make such a brilliant decision by picking me and Ghost as his sidekicks/tools to get into witchy demonology secrets.