Chapter 61

A long silence filled the Director’s office after Henry finished telling her everything. Combined with what Loki and JJ both said about her, he figured he could trust her. Or, more appropriately, he knew he had to. From what he’d been shown by the Storm Crow, and the Varkoth battle, he knew he needed more help on this. And if anyone could help, to some degree, Emelia Bowers, Branch Director of the Colorado Springs D.E.D. Exorcists, seemed the best candidate.

“I see.” She said, finally breaking the silence. She got up from her desk and walked over to his Volture, extending a hand to trace along the shifting patterns on its wings. The bird started to protest but silenced immediately under a stern look from her. “It’s finally happening. I’d hoped we would have more time…but the signs are clear.”

Henry cleared his voice. “You, don’t seem too surprised by all of this.” She’d sat there, the entire time he’d told his story, and hadn’t seemed the least bit phased. In fact, she’d nodded her head a few times, as if what he was telling her was perfectly normal.

“The end times have been prophesized for as long as humankind can remember.” Emelia continued as she left the Volture and moved back towards her desk. “The Apocalypse, Armageddon, the Great Cataclysm, Doomsday, Ragnarök.” She sat down. “All the cultures in existence have some sort of mythos detailing the end times. It was never an if it would happen, but a when, and how.”

“Uh,” she was taking this extremely well. “Can’t we stop it?”

She laughed. “The end of humanity? No. All things come to an end eventually. We can prolong our existence, we can try and stop the end happening now, but eventually, all things end. That’s how the world works.”

“Well, I’d rather the world not end right now.” Henry said, shaking his head. “So what do we do about the current threat?”

“We?” Emelia barked a laugh. “I’m stuck in my position. I’ve been doing everything I can to prepare, but bureaucracy is a bitch. My actions, my hands, they’re scrutinized and tied. I, can do very little, other than try my best to make sure no rifts fully open in the area I’m in charge of.”

“You, on the other hand.” She leaned against the desk, her eyes looking over him. “You’ve got much more freedom, though, as it stands, you’ve ruined your chance of acting without drawing notice.”

“What do you-” Emelia waved a hand, cutting him off.

“-it was already rather strange for someone to walk around with multiple D.E.D. out. The fact you didn’t hide your D.E.D. once they evolved, has drawn even more attention towards you. That Drake alone is an impressive D.E.D., especially for someone as new as you. That Harbinger Volture though, is a one of a kind. No one living has seen a bird like that before, it’s only been mentioned in myths. Meaning, you’ve suddenly become the talk of the organization.”

“I could put them away…” Henry trailed off as the director shook her head.

“Won’t work. It’s too late. Even if you put it away, people will know. And even if you hid both your Blade Drake and Harbinger Volture, you’re the only guy walking around with an Evil Eye. Whether you like it or not, you’ve made it extremely easy to identify you. Which, for the record, is a terrible habit to have in a secret organization.”

“Yeah, Loki warned me about that.” Henry sighed. He really should have listened more to Loki. However, he’d needed to grow fast, and this was the best way to do so. For that, he had no regrets. So what if people knew who he was. So what if they knew what his D.E.D. were, he wasn’t worried. The world was going to end if they couldn’t do something about it. He didn’t have time to try and hide just to make himself blend in better.

“And with good cause.” Emelia sighed. “Is it safe to assume, at least, that only JJ and I know about the passives for your D.E.D.?”

“As far as I know.” Henry replied. “JJ was pretty adamant that I keep these facts hidden. Especially with regards to the Harbinger Volture. It had him a bit shaken, actually.”

“That’s because the Demon Hunters have been paying attention to the signs as well, and they know what signals the awakening of the Old Ones. This isn’t the first time mankind has had to fight against the creatures. The problem though, is we are nowhere near as powerful now, as we once were. Artifacts of great power have been lost, and ancient D.E.D. who once aided us, have either died, split their power too much, or gone missing completely. We may have more exorcists now, but we are a shadow of what we once were.”

That didn’t bode well for the situation. Henry couldn’t fathom how large the organization was, nor how much money they had. But he could guess at their resources, considering the scope of their mission, and the fact the game was even a thing. Creating something like D.E.D. as a recruitment tool, couldn’t have been a small undertaking.

“Then why aren’t the Exorcists working with the Demon Hunters? From where I’m standing, they seem stronger than the Exorcists.”

“They are.” Emelia said. “At least, when it comes to pure D.E.D. might. But slowly they’ve been getting weaker as well, at, while it pains me to say it, the hands of the Exorcists.” She sighed. “I’m sure Jeremiah didn’t fail to mention Exorcists hunt down Demon Hunters.”

“Yeah, that may have been mentioned once or twice. Seems like something stupid to do, considering the combined threat we are facing.” Henry’s voice had a tinge of venom, though he was keen to keep it respectful. He did not want to anger Emelia again. She terrified him.

“The conflict between Demon Hunters and Exorcists has existed for a long, long time. I’m not sure what started it, and I don’t think anyone is. All I know is somewhere along the line, the two ceased working together, and Exorcists began receiving order to hunt down the Demon Slayers and take their D.E.D. and resources from them.”

“By murdering them.” Henry added.

“By any means necessary. This is a war, Henry. Things like this happen. We cannot have valuable, powerful assets in the hands of those who don’t want to work with us.”

“You mean who won’t simply follow orders.”

Emelia smiled at that. “Glad you understand how it is. Personally,” her voice grew quiet, “I’ve a lot of respect for the Demon Hunters, and I’m sure you could tell, I’m not as…gung ho about hunting them down. That being said, I still have people I have to answer to, and trust me, I do what I can so I can protect those under me. I’m not the bad guy here.”

Henry took a deep breath. She was right. And he figured there was a lot she was doing behind the scenes, that he and the others couldn’t know about. Hell, there was probably stuff she wasn’t mentioning, simply because doing so could be problematic for her, and whatever it was she was working on. That didn’t mean he wasn’t upset though. She’d confirmed the Exorcists were hunting Demon Hunters down in cold blood to kill them. And all of this while the organization knew the end of the world was approaching. If not for the major threat of the Old Ones, Henry would be thinking long and hard about abandoning the Exorcists and joining JJ as a Demon Hunter. If that was possible.

“Alright, then what do we do about the current situation?” Henry asked, putting his other thoughts and emotions aside. “Something has to be done.”

“I agree. And it will. For now, I need you to continue working in Strike Team Alpha, and growing stronger. When Jewel has healed, I will let you know. Once she is fit to fight, there will be a task I will assign the two of you, to try and do all we can in preparation. Till then though, keep what you know secret. Also, if you happen across anymore D.E.D., perhaps don’t flaunt them as you have been?”

She shot him a wink at that, offering him a small smile at the same time.

“I can’t really make any promises on that one.” He said, feeling the tension in the room begin to leave. “As you said yourself, I need to get as strong as I can, as fast as I can.”

“True,” Emelia sighed. “But you can’t get stronger if you’re dead. And there are threats out there other than the D.E.D., which will begin to seek you out.”

“Like?”

“That I cannot say. Not now at least.” She motioned for him to leave; face unreadable. “Just be careful and surround yourself with only those you can absolutely trust. There are monsters in the world we live in, and murder is simply a means to their end.”

The door closed behind him as he left her office, and Henry couldn’t shake the cold sense of dread that flowed over his body as he began to leave the headquarters. What exactly was going on?