“Okay, we’re all here,” Herne said, ignoring the weather chat. “First, Yutani, you said we have a name to put to these creatures?”
Yutani nodded. “I called Raven. She combed through Beltan’s Bestiary. She thinks we’re facing a Greek form of ghoul called vrykos.”
“Lovely. Can they reason?” Viktor asked.
“Yes, to a degree, and they’re forced to obey the necromancer who summoned them back to the corpse. They aren’t necessarily the same soul who inhabited the corpse during life, though. Basically, they’re pissed off, and they have a hunger that cannot be satisfied. They feed off the living.” Yutani was reading off of an entry he found online.
“Great. Just what we need. So… how do they attack? Do they eat their kills? Drink blood? Just what are we talking about here?” I was jotting down notes, though Yutani would be sending everyone the info. But sometimes I found I remembered things better when I wrote down what I heard.
Yutani paused, skimming the article. After a moment, he pushed the laptop back. “All right, this is what we know about them. They will eat those they attack; however, they don’t siphon off life force. But there’s a different concern. Their saliva carries a virulent form of bacteria, a lot like a Komodo dragon. And that bacterial infection is not only deadly, but it can spread. It’s highly contagious, through touch, airborne droplets, and bodily fluids exchange.”
My heart skipped a beat. “Are you talking a potential plague here? How many of these creatures are considered carriers?”
“Almost one hundred percent. If you get bit, you’ll almost certainly end up infected. Add to that their bite also has a necrotic toxin in it and you’ve got one hell of a potent weapon.” Yutani leaned his elbows on the table. “If this is happening on a nationwide scale…”
“It means we could end up with a plague sweeping through the country.” Talia let out a slow breath, accepting the tea that Angel handed to her. “What about the rest of the world? Is this happening in other countries as well?”
Yutani pulled his laptop closer and began tapping away. “Let me check.” A few minutes later, he looked up. “Yes. This is going on worldwide. Only it’s not just the vrykos. There are reports of skeletal walkers, ghouls, and zombies cropping up all over. The dead are pouring out of their graves.”
Herne reached for his phone. “I’m texting my father. He and some of the other gods have to meet with the United Coalition and other world leaders. This could blow up into a nightmare if the governments take the wrong actions.”
“What stops the vrykos?” I asked. We had already been dealing with an upswing in skeletal walkers, though we hadn’t seen zombies or ghouls so far.
“Same thing that stops skeletal warriors, ghouls, and zombies. Cutting them to pieces. Bombs—maybe. Fire will destroy them.” Yutani was glued to the screen. “I was right. In France, they’re noticing the beginnings of a new disease. Bacterial, and linked to the victims of the vrykos. There have been ten cases, and they all died. Two of them weren’t victims of the creatures—they were family members who sat with their loved ones at the hospital.”
“Are there any known antidotes?” I asked.
Herne once again took to his phone. “I’ll get Ferosyn on it.” He stepped away from the table and moved over near the window.
Yutani paused, then shook his head. “Some antibiotics seem to be slowing the progression of the disease. The bacteria shuts down the internal organs, even as the necrosis begins to eat away at the flesh. And…we have one report of one of the victims who died and reanimated as a zombie. The doctors had to torch the corpse in order to stop it. So zombie-like aftereffects.”
“What about luring them into anti-magic zones? Will that deactivate them until the spell runs out or the vrykos are removed from the area?” Angel frowned. “I don’t even know if there is such a thing.”
“Oh, there is,” Yutani said, “but I can’t find anything that answers whether it would work on them.” The coyote shifter was still reading.
Herne returned. “I talked to Ferosyn, who’s looking into antibiotics that will work on the Fae and Cryptos, given most human antibiotics have massive side effects for them.” He paused. “No groans—I know tomorrow is Lughnasadh and it’s also a Saturday, but I need you guys to be on board with this. Everybody be here bright and early and ready to work