for ten years. I know for five of those years, you were with Mygi, though I’m assuming it was against your will. You’ve been running from supernaturals since you escaped.” I licked my lips, and there was something else in his scent now. I had no idea what it was, and that scared me. What had the good people at Mygi done to him?
“I killed all my friends,” he snarled. “You know that part.”
“I do,” I whispered. The gun rose up, and he took two fast, large steps across the room. The cold metal touched my forehead.
“Tell me why I shouldn’t kill you right now just for knowing that and make my escape?”
“Because I might be able to make all this stop,” I said softly. He could kill me, and I was just sitting there. This wasn’t the first time I had a gun to my head. “I’m kind of important, and there’s so much you still need to understand.”
Keep cool. No sudden movements. The moment his guard goes down, disarm him. Can’t kill him, but I can at least take away his advantage and gain control of this situation. Talking to him is obviously not working.
“I’m human,” he said with a conviction I didn’t really understand. It was almost like he was trying to convince himself. I could smell how human he was. There was no arguing that he was human. “I’m not a supernatural. Why is this happening to me?”
“I don’t know, but you’re in it now, Raphael. There’s no turning back. Once you’re in, you stay in. The only way to get out of the supernatural world is in a body bag.”
Humans tried and failed before him and would continue to try and fail after him. Some dipped their toes in, going to witches to dabble in magics they didn’t truly understand. When things got too hot for them, they tried to walk away, but by then, they knew a few real spells and knew magic was possible. They were always pulled back in, normally for misusing magic. Then there were people who accidentally got jobs with supernaturals. Even if they never knew the secret, they were in danger, a target to whoever their employer’s enemies were.
“Why don’t you tell me what happened?” I asked softly. We were running out of time, and I was getting more anxious by the moment, but I needed more of a rapport with him. He wasn’t going to budge unless I really made him think I gave a shit.
Sadly, I did give a shit and really hated it. Of course, the one time I needed someone to think I cared about what happened to them was the one person who refused to get with the program.
“I was about to graduate, and my buddies finally convinced me to try something. I went through drug testing, so I stayed clear of all of it for a long time, but they promised this drug was a great high and completely natural, so it wouldn’t show up on any drug tests. I was drunk.” The gun lowered a little, which put it between my eyes, but he was relaxing, so I took it as a good sign. “I don’t know…I woke up, and I was surrounded by them. They were all dead like something beat them to death one by one. I was covered in blood. Some people came and grabbed me before I could even get out of the house. Next thing I knew, I was spending my days strapped to a table.”
I swallowed. That sounded worse than I had originally thought.
“Then you escaped, and Mygi has been after you ever since.”
“That’s right.”
Great. Mega corporation into pharmaceuticals, doing illegal captures and experiments on humans. I mean, what else could this be?
“I said I can help you, and I will.” I needed to make a call to Cassius and fast. He was going to want every piece of this to build a case, and the faster he could start, the faster I could get permission to take out anyone who tried to grab Raphael. There were still so many things I didn’t know, like how Raphael escaped to begin with, but it didn’t matter. Now, I had full confirmation this wasn’t a standard ‘capture the human to keep the secret’ problem. This was a company trying desperately to cover up illegal activities, and hoping no one looked too closely at them. The Tribunal wouldn’t unless they had reason to think this was part of something