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Trinity
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I don't know what had been going on when I walked into my office, but it had clearly been a tense moment. I didn't care right now, as long as it didn't have anything to do with the case, then I wasn't interested. In fact, that was just what I told Reece when he started to explain what had happened in my absence.
'Trinity, there is something that I need to tell you.” Reece had come over to me with a strange look on his face.
“Is it about the case?” I asked him without stopping as I walked toward my desk.
“No, it's not.”
.....
“Then it can wait.” I shut him down instantly. “We've got other work to do right now. Reggie and Darrol will be here soon. We need to focus right now. It can wait. Tell me later.”
I had gotten word from Wayne, the pilot, that he had landed with Darrol a half and hour ago. To my knowledge he was going straight to Reggie's and then heading over here. They were supposed to be here any moment now.
“I think that you should hear this right now, Trinity.” He was still trying to pester me about whatever that was, but I heard the ding of the elevator in the hall.
“Hold onto it for now, Reece. They're here.” I turned to face the door in time to see the two people coming into the room. They were here before a lot of the others were.
Reggie was tall, slender, and beautiful. Her long brown hair fell to the middle of her back in waves. Her brown eyes matched the color of her hair perfectly. And the dark coloring of her hair and eyes made her pale complexion stand out even more.
Darrol was around the typical height for a feline shifter, just over six feet tall with a well-built physique. He had mahogany brown hair that was buzzed short on the side but was several inches long on the top. His very typically bright yellow feline eyes were practically glowing in excitement as he looked around the office. He had a large bag on each shoulder and a laptop in his arms. I could tell that he came here ready to work. That was good, I wouldn't want to worry about having a lazy computer tech that was supposed to help me.
“Queen Trinity.” Reggie called out to me. “We're here.”
“I noticed.” I spoke sarcastically to her in reply. I mean, clearly they were here, they were in my office, for crying out loud.
“It's nice to meet you, Queen Trinity. My name is Darrol Harper.” He held his hand out toward me and took a few steps. I felt like messing with him, but I didn't. I just shook his hand and tried not to laugh. Apparently, he could sense the laughter in me. “Did I do something wrong?” He looked around and tried to figure it out as he looked at Shawn, Dietrich, Shane, Noah, Reece, Juniper, Paul, and Cedar.
“Nothing really. It's just that no one really just shakes my hand out of the blue. It's been so long since I haven't had someone scanned by my guards first.”
“I did scan him.” Vincent called from the door. “I got here right behind them and have been checking to see if they were friends or foe. Not that I doubted Reggie, but that man is new.” Vincent didn't sound happy at all. “You should know better than to meet people without me or Gabriel present.” He strode into the room and came to stand at my side.
“And there you have it.” I smiled at Darrol. “I am only allowed to meet people that have been checked in advance. That is unless we don't have the chance for that to happen. Needless to say, Gabriel and Vincent don't like for me to be away for too long. And when I am away from them, they insist that Reece is with me, or that I behave like a hermit that is afraid of people.” My grin seemed to be lost on him. He was just staring at me like that was some sort of a joke that I had just made. He had no idea that it was actually the truth. Now, whether Vincent and Gabriel got what it was that they wanted or not was a different story. That was what they preferred though.
“U.uhm, ha ha ha ha, th..that's funny Queen Trinity.”
“She's not lying.” Gabriel came into the room next, the rest of the crowd behind him. “Hello, I do not believe that we've met.” Gabriel walked over to him with his hand held out. “I am Gabriel Abadie. And you are?” I saw that protective instinct that he had for his queen.
“O..o..oh, I..I am Darrol Harper. I am the computer specialist that was requested yesterday.”
“Good of you to make a timely arrival.” Gabriel shook hands with the man. “Please, have a seat near the queen's desk. I am sure that there is much that you and she will need to discuss. As well as King Reece, Kind Dietrich and King Shawn.”
“W..wait? Queen Trinity has three husbands?” He was so lost in the conversation that he didn't know who Shawn and Dietrich were, and that comment of his made the entire room break out in laughter.
“Sorry, sweetheart, but Shawn and I would probably prefer Reece over Trinity.” Dietrich laughed.
“Eww, no, I have known Reece far too long for that.” Shawn feigned disgust. “Then again, he does have a nice body.”
“Fuck you.” Reece moved to stand behind me. “I am Trinity's only. And she is mine. No one else will touch either of us.” I saw that Darrol was still confused and figured that I needed to explain a few things for him.
“Dietrich is the king of vampires. And Shawn is his husband. So, they are both kings.” I tried to make sure that he understood before his head exploded.
“O..OK.” He nodded apprehensively.
Everyone took their seats after that. The entire group from last night as well as the two new additions. It was time for us to get to work. There was a lot that needed to be done and I wanted it all to be finished today if that was at all possible.
“Alright, so we all know why we are here. We have to stop these murders before anyone else dies. We need to make sure that there are no more people in our collective kingdoms that lose their lives for no reason at all.” There was at least one representative from all the communities here. I covered three of them myself.
“Yesterday, when Shawn and Dietrich came back, they had with them a lot of information that we hope will be helpful. They also had a computer that needed to be investigated. All of this new information is exactly where you two come in.” Reece was standing so that he was looking at Reggie and Darrol and he spoke. “Reggie, you are going to help us go through the files. Make an archive of them in the computer as well as paper. I want this accessible to everyone at any given time. Darrol, you were brought here to help with that laptop. Dietrich, tell him what you know about it.” Reece passed the figurative baton to the man that was sitting near the front of the group with Shawn.
After being called out, both Shawn and Dietrich walked to the front of the room. It was their turn to address the newcomers as well as the crowd.
“Well, Reece, as you should know, there isn't much that we know about this laptop. It was found in a dormitory style room in a very old mansion in Germany. The mansion didn't have electricity, but it did have runes all over the place and some of them seemed to be able to power things like electricity. That was by far the only thing that I could think to use for the greater good. Free global energy that wouldn't damage the environment. We should look into that at some time.”
“Yeah, too bad the whole world would have to know about and accept us for that to happen.” Shane quipped up from the back of the room with his typical laughing tone.
“That is true.” Dietrich nodded and conceded that it was not a viable option at the moment.
“Move on, Dietrich.” I waved my hand in a hurry up gesture.
“Ah, yes, of course.” He smiled at me. “Well, that is all that we know about the computer. I do believe that it was owned by a teenage boy, but that is all that I can tell you about it. As for the files that we brought back, they are about the different members of the Jaegan family that have lived in the Saint Alaric's Home for Children that we searched. Several of these kids would be adults by now.”
“Alright.” I nodded at him. “If that is all we have, then we will go with it for now. We will not give up until this has all been figured out.”
I looked at the room full of people. The ones that were new and the ones that had been with me since the beginning. I knew that I could trust these people to help me. I just hoped that we could solve it all before the next murder. If they followed the same pattern, then we only had two days until the next set of killings. That wasn't long enough.
