Kiaan rolled over and pulled his phone off of his nightstand.
“The world better be on fire,” he muttered into it.
“Not the whole world. Just Ax to the Heart,” Kaeden said. “And not really on fire… more like hexed.”
Kiaan rubbed his eyes and managed to sit up. “Why do you think your pack house is hexed?”
“Because the lights have been flickering a lot. And a bottle of tequila tried to kill Anders last night.”
“So why are you calling me at…” Kiaan pulled the phone from his ear to look at the display. “Five AM? You know I don't do mornings, cousin dear.”
“Because Anders insists it get fixed this morning before he comes downstairs to work this afternoon.”
“An ultimatum?” Kiaan scowled. “Anders sounds like an ass.”
“He really isn't,” Kaeden defended his pack mate. “But you should have seen the piece of glass Blake pulled out of his neck.”
Kiaan rubbed his face again. “Okay. Give me an hour to wake up and get downtown. I'll see what I can find.”
“Thank you, Kiaan.” Kaeden sighed in relief. “Don't be too scared to charge Mason a ton for it.”
Kiaan chuckled before hanging up.
Why? Why did it have to be morning? Kiaan hated mornings!
But he rolled out of bed and stumbled into his shower.
A half hour later with a cup of life giving brew (aka coffee with one hazelnut creamer) and life giving bread (aka everything bagel with garlic cream cheese), he was on the road.
Not for the first time, Kiaan was thankful that he kept a full kit in his car at all times. It made emergencies… and early wake up calls a lot easier.
When he pulled into the parking deck behind the bar/pack house, Kiaan texted Kaeden. The “back door is open” reply came immediately.
As soon as he stepped into the converted warehouse, Kiaan knew that it wasn't a hex. But it was a problem.
“Hey, Kiaan,” Mason said from the office door. “Thank you for coming.”
Kiaan just grunted. He really didn’t feel like talking this early in the morning.
“I made Kaeden wait to call you until this morning.” Mason grinned at him. “Anders wanted him to call you last night.”
“I was more awake then.” Kiaan noted.
“At two AM?”
“Oh. Uh. No. That was probably about the time I hit REM.” Kiaan shrugged. “Good news is that it's not a hex.”
Mason looked surprised. “How can you tell?”
“That's the bad news,” Kiann said. “It's a daemon.”
“What the hell?” Mason’s face ran through a variety of emotions. Like most wolves, he could be quite expressive when he wasn't purposefully making his face blank.
Kiaan didn't know Mason very well. Just that he was Kaeden’s alpha. And a very good one; Kaeden adored him.
“Not the kind from hell,” Kiaan corrected as he put his bag on the bar. “More like the kind from an alternate dimension. That someone had to open a portal and summon it for it to get here.”
“There's a difference?” Mason asked.
“Yes,” Kiaan nodded. “Different energy signatures. Different methods to call them. Different methods to banish them. And banish is all you can do with a hell demon. This kind I can actually destroy its life force.” Kiaan dug through his bag, looking for the ingredients he needed. “If I can get its energy signature right, that is.”
“You sound so… confident,” Mason muttered.
“This is going to take me a while, though,” Kiaan said. “If I don’t get the right energy profile, then I’ll just piss it off instead of banishing or destroying it.”
“Oh, uh,” Mason glanced back into his office. “Take your time. Let me know if you need anything.”
Kiaan nodded then began setting up.