Chapter 76

I couldn't put my finger on what felt off about the thread. Whether it was because I had never seen that color purple before or the fact that it seemed to want to hide from me, something set me off, but I knew that it was the one I needed to cut.

I reached out to the thread, determined to figure out who it belonged to when I felt my monster stirring inside of me. 'Don't touch it!' she screamed in warning, just as my fingers were about it brush it. Pulling back my hand quickly, I retreated a step before trying to make sense of what was going on.

I knew that I had to cut that thread, but how did I cut it without first touching it? I needed to know who and what it was before I severed its ties to the mortal world. 'That is a demon thread,' said my monster, and I could feel her uneasiness. 'Its very thread could infect us,' she continued. I tried to understand the emotions that were flowing through me right now from her. Fear, confusion, anger, frustration… they were all there, swamping me with an overwhelming amount of information.

But nothing told me why I had to be so scared to touch it. 'A demon is not like a human or a god,' said my monster, trying to give me the information that I needed without stepping on some kind of line that I didn't know existed. 'We, as fate, are un-taintable. We cannot go so far down the wrong path that we become rotten like those threads that you saw. We are simply an unbiased… entity… neither good nor bad.'

"Okay," I said out loud, completely forgetting that I could talk to her in my head. "I got that part, but I am still confused why there is a string that I cannot touch."

'Because it belongs to a demon. The demon is not tainted or rotten, no matter what it looks like. The demon is just as it always was. And those… beings… are able to taint everyone, mortal or god simply by their very nature.'

"So if I touch it?"

'You will be tainted and eventually become a demon yourself. And there is no force in this world that could save you.'

Note to self, do not touch the shiny purple thread. Calling on my silver shears, I kept as much of a distance between me and that thread in front of me before cutting it.

The thread seemed to know what was going on and its struggle increased, trying to stay out of the way of my shears. But it didn't work. I was determined to cut it. Pressing down with both hands, using more strength to cut the thread of life than I ever had to before, I finally felt the string separate.

The purple light flickered for a second before turning to ash and disappearing.

"What will happen now?" I asked my monster, unsure and unsettled.

'Call Viktor, there are demons on Earth,' came her whispered reply.

That couldn't possibly be good.

----

It was just past midnight when Viktor's phone started ringing. He paused for a second and looked around the meeting room filled with both Van Helsings and their knights. Realizing that only five other people had his cell phone number, he dug it out of his jacket pocket and quickly answered it.

"Yes?" he snapped, not bothering to look at who was calling. He was in the middle of an important meeting of all of the heads to discuss this latest development of involving humans in monsters' affairs and what they could do about it. He didn't need distractions from Vlad or the fucking Wolf.

There was a moment of silence causing Viktor to open his eyes for a second before quickly leaving the meeting room. "Puiul meu mic?" he asked cautiously. She had never called him, she always sent a text and if they needed to talk, he was the one to call her.

"I guess I interrupted something?" came the hesitant voice from the other side of the phone. He froze when he heard her. Never had she sounded like this, not even when her mother kidnapped her and tortured her.

"Never," he promised, looking up as Sasha knocked on the window, trying to get his attention. "What do you need?"

A choked laughter came out of the phone as if she didn't know if she should laugh or cry so decided to do both at the same time.

"Whatever it is, we can deal with it," he promised, not caring about anything other than this phone call. He could even feel his monster rise just enough to overhear what was going on.

"I'm not so sure that we can," she admitted.

"I am," Viktor replied confidently as he ignored another knock trying to get his attention. "Now tell me," he continued, adding a bit of his own magic into the command to force her to obey."

"Long story short?" she started trying to fight the compulsion that he put on her. "I just killed a demon tonight. Apparently, there are now demons on Earth and even my monster is freaking out," she said.

Viktor stilled, his muscles clenching and releasing. "I will be over in about an hour, is that okay?" he asked, knowing that she would probably want him there, even if she didn't need him. Both he and his monster were in complete agreement that they needed to see her as fast as possible.

When she hummed in agreement, he quickly ended the call and strolled back into the meeting room. "We will pick this up later. There are more important things to handle and we will need everyone in on this hunt."

Several of the older members of the Van Helsing clan stood up, slamming their hands down onto the table in protest. "What could be more important than the Gypsies using dark magic and involving humans in our affairs?" one of them shouted, incensed that the meeting was going to be ended simply because The Van Helsing decided it after taking a call.

"There are now demons roaming the Earth that we were completely unaware of."

Silence met his statement.