It took a lot of coaxing from Duke, but Verlsa agreed to go out on a date with Adi. She was busy straightening her cloche hat to make sure it and her bangs covered the stones on her forehead. Adi was sitting impatiently on the couch. Verlsa was taking her sweet time to get ready.

Duke and Janice had disappeared overnight, but they had returned not that long ago. He was frowning over the level of detail that Janice had put into her reports. When he had mentioned before that any detail could be important, he didn’t think she would put in so many completely useless ones, such as the brand of makeup she had worn during a day.

“We are assuming that your family had stumbled on the supernatural world, but sought to spread misinformation about it. Lars had been infected by a vampire and was thus purged by your uncle. This was shortly after Robbie had disappeared.” Duke sat down next to Adi and began to speak in a more gentler tone. “We must also consider a different possibility.”

Adi scooted away from the vampire. “And that is?”

“That Wenzel knew nothing of the supernatural world, and is responsible for the murder of both his sons. Since the rest of your family is convinced that this world is real, he used that to his advantage and have been using the lot of you to cover up his own crimes.”

“What?” Adi scoffed at the idea. “If anything, Uncle Wenzel and them probably stumbled into this world the same way I did. Undereducated and underprepared. That’s what got them killed.”

With consideration towards Duke’s orders to kill Adi, the vampire was inclined to side with that logic. “Fair enough.”

Verlsa stepped out of the office wearing something that she had borrowed from Janice. This was tighter on her, due to her wider frame, but covered more of her legs because she was shorter. Duke’s jaw had nearly fallen off, and she walked over and smacked him across the back of the head.

“Let the kid live a little because his cousin thinks he’s got game,” she snarled back.

“No thanks,” replied Adi as he waved his hand through the air. He then yelped as Verlsa threw a pillow at him. “They’ve seen pictures of me and Janice! They’re all going to think I got dumped and downgraded when they see you.”

Now Verlsa was the one whose jaw nearly fell off her mouth. She stood there for a moment, looking like a goldfish while her brain failed to comprehend what he had just said. “I-I… I have the power to be quite cruel, you little shit,” she growled back. “Because I can heal anything.”

“And you,” said Adi with a pause, since he needed to consider what his next words would be very, very carefully, “look absolutely ravishing today, my dear.” He glanced over to Duke, who was frowning at him. “... And I am going to make sure you have a very nice date.” He let out another yelp as Verlsa kicked him in the shin.

“Let’s just get the hell out of here before I change my mind.”

They packed Sable in the car and went to a pub built in an old fire station. Sable waited in the car while the others went inside. Robbie was already there. He was taller and just as fit as Adi was, but his wife was short with waves of black hair. Adi pulled out a chair for Verlsa, and she immediately broke out introductions.

“Hello,” she said with a purr. “I’m Verlsa Rivera. Adi is always telling me how important his family is. It’s such a pleasure to finally be able to meet you.”

Adi grinned from cheek to cheek, but he was gritting his teeth as he did so. “I’ve just been so busy with work that I haven’t had time to introduce you to them yet, love.” He muttered a thank you as the waiter came by to give them a menu.

“It’s nice to meet you as well, Va… Uh, Ve… Either way, you look…” He lowered his voice as he addressed Adi. “This isn’t the same girl as the pictures you showed me last new years, right?”

“No. It turns out Janice was a bitch who was cheating on me, and my baby here has been helping me through it,” he said with another fake smile.

Verlsa nodded sympathetically. “We’ve known each other for ages, and Adi didn’t ruin our friendship, but I just couldn’t let my poor baby suffer like that!” She clutched onto his arm. “He’s just the sweetest and best thing that’s happened in my life.”

“And she’s the best thing that’s happened in mine,” cooed Adi. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and quickly typed a message out on his phone. “What the duck r u doing?”

Robbie nodded, clearly uncomfortable by their lovey-dovey display. “She’s alright, right Adi? We can talk openly with her? About the family and...” He paused as Verlsa’s purse beeped.

“I am just so sorry. I work as an accountant consultant, and I’m always getting messages. Carry on. Just ignore me.” She pulled her phone out and began to check her messages.

“We started dating shortly after you left, and I wanted her to know everything before Uncle Wenzel started my training,” explained Adi. He glanced down at his phone as it buzzed. “She’s been nothing but supportive.”

“Being Janice. I thought you <3 the fake bitchy type. ;P”

“Pls stop.”

Robbie sighed with relief. “I think Lars was getting into whatever work dad was doing before he died. Do you know anything about that?”

Adi blinked a few times. “Uh… Lars died months ago. It wasn’t that long after you ran off.”

“Is that what dad told you?” Robbie grasped onto Rosa’s hand. She wasn’t saying anything at all. Rather, she was looking around nervously. Her nervousness increased as Adi nodded his head. “What has been going on?”

“Lars was turned into a vampire, and Uncle Wenzel had to put him down. I became his apprentice last September, but I didn’t get that much training until werewolves killed him. That’s when I moved into Grandpa’s, so I could carry on the business there.” Adi blinked a few times more as Robbie was stunned by the news. “Was that not what I was supposed to do?”

“I can’t believe he scammed you too.” Robbie shook his head as the waiter stopped by. “Sorry. We’ll need a few more minutes.” The waiter nodded before walking away. “Look, Adi, we’re family. That’s why I’m going to be honest and tell you that you’ve been a gullible idiot.”

“... Eh?”

Robbie’s face became strained as he thought about how he should phrase it. “Everything about the hunting business is a scam. None of us ever thought it was real, at least any of the hunters. Our job was to trick the rest of the family into believing it was real and have them give us money. It’s been like that for generations.”

“... What?”

“Exactly! We all thought it was fake!” Robbie gestured to Rosa. “I was looking into some occult stuff so we could come up with some new stories for our Easter family gathering, and that’s when I met Rosa. She thought I was the real deal, and that’s when I found out that it really was all real.” Adi nodded slowly. “I wanted to come clean. If all this stuff was real, we were going to be putting ourselves in danger, and it was time to put a stop to all of this.”

Adi continued to nod slowly. “Yeah… Yeah, that would’ve been a good time to pull out or something.” Verlsa bit onto her lower lip in order to keep herself from laughing, but neither Adi or Robbie noticed. She held the menu up to her face, pretending to look at it while she snickered.

“So that’s why Lars got turned into a vampire?” Adi was still confused. Obviously, Lars and his uncle carried on after Robbie left. The honor of the Wulfert clan was at stake. They must have carried on just as Adi chose to do, regardless of if it had been a scam or not.

“I told dad what I knew, and he ended up stumbling upon the world himself shortly afterward,” said Robbie as he lowered his voice. “He came to me saying he had gotten a deal. We could be real Wulfert hunters, continue making money from the family, and be rich on the side. I didn’t ask for the details. I left.

Later, Lars told me he and dad went into business together, but I told him not to tell me more. He said that he got into a fight and was turned into a vampire, and not to worry because he was in good hands. Dad and him were going to fake his death, and he was going underground.

I tried to contact him when dad died to see what really happened, but I couldn’t find anything about where Lars went. A week ago, someone from his group contacted me to say that a werewolf had stopped by and they attacked Lars and only Lars. They didn’t have any more information than that.”

Verlsa’s tone was suddenly serious. “If it was a week ago, and you knew that Adi was working with your dad, why didn’t you talk to him sooner? Or even attempt to warn him?”

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

“Because I didn’t want anything to do with the family anymore.” Robbie looked off to the side as he tensed his jaw. “My boss started to act weird. I’m not a stand out employee, but he gave me a massive raise out of nowhere and kept saying we should go out and celebrate.

That’s when Adi sent me that email about how he was attacked and my boss started to act weird the day after that. He’s been strange enough that his wife came by trying to figure out if he’s been having an affair. I don’t want to seem paranoid, but I think he’s also possessed. ”

“And you’re scared that you’re the next target,” said Verlsa in a low and deadly tone. Robbie looked down at the table and nodded. “So you called out Adi because you don’t know who may be watching you. You wanted them to see that Adi was still alive, and you’re going to take your chance to run while hoping they prioritize him as a target again.”

Robbie straightened up in his chair, and he looked at Adi while ignoring Verlsa. “Do you have any idea what dad was doing? Anything he could’ve been working on that would’ve gotten him and Lars in trouble?”

Adi began to mutter, not knowing what to think anymore. “All he had me do was memorize books. I had to figure everything else out on my own.”

Robbie pulled out his wallet and tossed some cash on the table. “Then you better figure it out.” He and Rosa stood up. “We’re taking a flight to the UK this afternoon. Rosa’s family has some experience with this sort stuff, and we’ll be safe with them. You should get out of the state while you can.” He strained his face for a moment while he tried to think of something else to say. “Take care of yourself, Adi.”

“Yeah… Yeah, you too.” Adi was too stunned to move. He sat there while Verlsa reached over and pocketed the cash.

She then waved over a waiter. “Two pints of the blackberry sour and an order of garlic tot fries. Thanks.”

Adi shook his head. “Shouldn’t we leave? You just said this was part of a trap to get me killed again.”

“And I am not leaving a pub without having a beer first,” she argued back. “You took care of your uncle’s assets after he died, right? What did you do with it all?”

Adi had to think about it. While he did so, Verlsa pulled a tablet out of her bag and began to write down what he said. “I donated the newer furniture to goodwill and put anything heirloom in the garage. That included any books and other documents he had, and uh, electronics as well. He didn’t have much money, but that was put in a trust for Robbie to claim if he wanted it. The rest of it was the family fund for hunters, and that went to me.”

Verlsa finished marking down what he said. “Alright. Here’s what we’re going to do.” She then took out her phone and started to write out a text. “I’m going to tell Duke that we need to check out your uncle’s finances in Seattle, then we’re going to take our food and drinks out to the patio. That way Sable can sit out there with us instead of the car.” She hated the idea of leaving Sable locked up like that.

“There aren’t any finances for us to check out there.”

All Verlsa could do was laugh at the idea. “Yeah, but we’re going to be here drinking beer while he goes through your uncle’s paperwork back at the house. I’m also going to look up where a dog park is because there is nothing wrong with making him do that by himself for a few hours.

Adi grinned as the waiter set his beer down. “Next round, we’re trying out that pumpkin ale.”

“Absolutely.” She held up her mug, and the two toasted their glasses together.

***

Janice was not a happy woman. Duke had a fragile body, leaving him unable to do simple tasks such as lift a series of boxes. At least, that is what he had told her. This kept her busy dealing with the assortment of spiders that had moved into the garage as she slowly moved boxes in the living room, and left her with little time to bother Duke as he did his research.

Duke was entertaining himself with the handwritten texts that the Wulfert family had put together over the past few generations. All of them full of inaccurate information. The oddest part was that the older texts, copies from works from the 1700s, did seem to have the correct information. It was sometime during the mid-1800s where the inaccuracies showed up, leading Duke to believe that maybe the Wulfert family was at one time a group of serious hunters.

A small wave was given to Adi and Verlsa as they walked through the door. He then frowned at the sight of Sable. Verlsa had bought the dog a winter coat and caps for her claws that made it look like she had a glittery pedicure. There was also a pink scarf about the dog’s neck, and she was absolutely preening within delight, strutting this way and that as she walked about the living room.

“We have located an accounting ledger.” Duke gestured to a book on the coffee table.

Verlsa was immediately drawn to it. She shoved Duke’s legs off the couch and then raised the book in the air as she sat down. Duke then stretched his legs over her lap and she set the ledger on top of them so she could read it. Adi walked past them so he could put the beer they bought in the fridge.

“Shit.” Verlsa scanned through it quickly. “How much fucking money were you guys scamming out of your family?”

“Maybe thirty thousand a year? Both Robbie and Lars had side jobs to help out, and Wenzel worked as an auto repairman when he was younger.” Adi leaned over the back of the couch. “I was able to sell off the apartment for a little over a quarter million, and that’s what I’ve been living off of. Most of the family pulled out of giving a tithe when I took over.” And that was because they were pissed he gave up on a job with his stepfather in order to do this, saying that it was time to let the tradition end.

“Hold on, I’m doing the math.” Verlsa’s fingers danced in the air as she tapped at an imaginary calculator. “I think he made over a hundred thousand during the three months before his death. A lot of the larger transactions are marked with ‘Assorted MM,’ and I’ve got no clue what that means.”

Duke looked up from his book. “It could be many a thing, but it was likely a term he made up for his purposes.” He moved his legs as Verlsa tapped a finger against them. “I’m going to work on this in the office and work on my laptop in there. Tell me if you find anything else like this.”

Adi looked over everything Duke had laid out. There was a binder that his uncle had made, but Adi hadn’t gone through it before. It was put together with his financial documents, which Adi had kept in the event that there were arguments over the will or if Robbie had needed them. Now he picked it up, wondering if it may have had clues on where the money had come from.

Instead, he found notes about the supernatural world. Mages, mithryn, demons. They all seemed more accurate than anything else he had seen. “Have you seen any mages?” Adi flipped through the binder some more. “You think DH has some?”

“They would have one or two. From my understanding, there were once many.” Duke sprawled out on the couch again after Verlsa had left. “I haven’t much of an idea where they left afterward though.”

“I would.” The two looked over at Janice, who was walking through the hall. She had just exited the shower and was only wearing a towel. “They left.”

Duke sat up, then immediately laid back down once he noticed that she wasn’t wearing much at all. “Where would they have gone?”

“Don’t really know. I left France when I was fifteen, so I didn’t really care about Firstborn History 101.” She sat on the edge of the couch while she thought about it. “I know that the demon king at the time decreed that all demons must take on a human appearance and have their blood bonded by runic law or find themselves confined within the kingdom.

A lot of them disagreed, and they ended up working with the mages to make some other world or something. Never had much of an interest in finding out where they went, since I only care about creatures who have pieces that fit with mine. None of my business anyways, really, since that was a few hundred years ago.”

“Then what’s a mithrywhatever? I know vampires are some since Duke said as much, but mages aren’t?” He then pulled off his own shirt and hurled it at Janice. “New rule, all women are to remain dressed at all times unless you’re Sable.” She frowned at him, and he responded by pointing firmly at his shirt.

Duke kept the book over his face. “Mithryn are humans who have been cursed by magic and have had their forms changed. Mages are descendants of demons and humans, who have inherited powers from their Firstborn blood. It’s quite simple of an explanation.”

Adi had to keep his eyes averted from Janice as well. Somehow her putting his shirt on had made her more appealing than her in just a towel, and he was trying really hard not to think about it. “I wonder if demons have the same weaknesses as mithryn have. Mirrors against vampires, silver against werewolves, that sort of thing.”

“I can be trapped in a mirror if my true face were to see one,” replied Janice. “That’s why I don’t have sex in slutty hotels or allow mirrors in the bedroom.”

Both of the men slowly looked at her. “... Where is your true face?” Adi asked in a high pitched voice.

“Not telling,” cooed Janice. “And surely not every vampire is invisible in a mirror.” She walked over to her purse and pulled out a compact mirror. “Should we try it on Duke?”

“I wouldn’t suggest it,” he muttered.

A faint click was heard as Janice opened the mirror, and Duke immediately rolled off the couch. He hid behind one end. When no one moved, he hurled the book he had at Janice. She chucked the compact mirror back at him, and he let out a high pitched squeal. His foot began to kick at it as it landed next to him.

“You… You, uh, alright there?” Adi walked over and picked up the mirror, but Duke continued to cower.

“I have a touch of spectrophobia! It is completely natural for someone of my kind, and I will not hear either of you mock me for it!” Duke sputtered out in a loud and panicked voice.

Adi tucked the mirror into his pocket and made a mental note to cover his office with mirrors later. “It’s gone now.”

“Good.” Duke stood up, and his body cracked and popped as he did so. “That binder that you were going through has some odd notes written in it. There are numbers next to certain creatures, and that may play into your uncle’s sudden financial success.”

“Really?” Adi went back to looking through the binder.

Duke returned to sitting on the couch. “The specific creatures marked are vampires, trolls, and werewolves. He also took time to write extra notes on mages. What is significant is the fact that all of those mithryn are quite plentiful within the Pacific Northwest. I suspect that he may have worked with them directly, and those were the amounts he could expect to make in exchange for certain goods. We will not know anything unless Verlsa can figure it out. I have never been one for math.”

Adi lifted up the binder. “I’ll take this to her then. What should I work on after that?”

“Dinner,” muttered Janice. Adi glared at her. “I’m not cooking it, and you banned me from ordering out.”

“Because any weird delivery man could try shooting me,” growled back Adi. Verlsa had been going out to pick up food or doing the cooking herself, but he doubted that she would do anything tonight. “Yeah, I’ll make a casserole or something.”

Janice inhaled sharply between her clenched teeth. “That is rather high in calories though. All those carbs, and such.”

“And I will be certain to add in extra cream sauce and cheese, in order to offset those carbs,” growled back Adi. Janice glared at him. “Fine. I’ll go ask Verlsa to pick something up, but you’re paying for it this time.”

“Fine.”

“Fine!”

Duke let out a sigh as he stood up. He should have left Janice at the den with Kenelm, but she kept muttering that she didn’t feel safe. “Dinner is not a subject that entertains me, as I still have my elixir. I will take the binder to Verlsa.” He plucked it from Adi’s hand. “If you will excuse me, I have studying to accomplish.” Maybe he should be the one to hide out at the den. It was a far more peaceful place than here.