"Uh oh," I said as I looked up at Viktor, concern written all over my face. "I think I broke him."
"That is why we don't just throw out the whole demon thing. Even monsters, let alone humans, need to build up to that idea, little cub," he said as he gave me another reassuring kiss. Then we both turned our attention to Greyson who had started pacing back and forth in the confines of my office.
"Demons," he said again, this time a soft whisper under his breath. "Demons." He spun around to face the two of us and marched over like it was our fault that there were demons around. I mean, in a very general sense it maybe… could possibly… potentially, be mine, but even then, the connection was very minuscule.
"Are we talking horns on the head, cloven hoofs, and a tail, demons?" he demanded. You know, for such a powerful and respected General, he doesn't take bad news all that well.
"I don't know," I admitted with a shrug of my shoulders. "But I am pretty sure that if that senator had horns and a pitchfork, he would not have been voted in." Pointing out the obvious, I didn't mention that maybe horns and a pitchfork might have made him stand out enough to win the votes.
He nodded his head before going back to his chair and taking a seat. "Ok," he said as he calmed himself down. "So what does this all mean?" Ah, there are the characteristics of a General… "It means that whoever was working with Jenny will probably have ties to the demons," I said, pointing out the most obvious.
"And demons are not known for doing things out of the goodness of their hearts," added Viktor as his hand gently ran up and down my thigh. "So, whatever it was that they were asking for in return would not be good for any of us."
"What do you want me to do?" asked Greyson, looking back and forth between the two of us. Viktor only raised an eyebrow at his question. "You mean to tell me that you didn't have a plan when you arrived here at 4:30 in the morning?"
Greyson just looked at him, not willing to confirm or deny anything. Sighing and realizing that it really was too early for all this crap, I stopped the staring competition. "We need to figure out what their plan was, why they needed House Gypsy, and what type of benefits the humans were getting for working with them."
Greyson switched his attention from Viktor to me, his own eyebrow arching. You know, I never noticed it being that much of a thing in the past 100 years. Maybe it was because that movie star made the look so popular that now everyone is trying to copy him. "Can't you just kill them all like how you killed the senator?" Greyson asked as if that was the most apparent course of action. And I mean, if you get down to it, yes, that is the easiest thing to do, but there were a lot of problems with that idea too.
The main one was that I had no idea how to go about even doing something on that large of a scale. That was a lot of threads to cut, and with how jumbled they were in with all the other species on Earth, plus the fact that they seemed to be able to hide from me, I didn't know if I could even take them all out without one or two hiding.
Not to mention the backlash of killing all of them. Let's face it, if almost 9 million people up and died in a single night, I think there would be some worldwide panic. And if I started taking them out slowly, then someone (or something) might figure out what was happening and then start hunting me.
But if I am being completely honest with myself… and let's face it… honesty is kind of my thing, then the first situation was the reason why I was not doing it. I had no idea how to go about killing that many people and I had no idea what type of backlash there would be. And having that many 'no ideas' was entirely too stressful for me. "No," I said, answering Greyson's question after such a long pause I wouldn't be surprised if he even forgot his question in the first place.
Greyson simply sat there and looked at me, like the word 'no' was a completely foreign concept to him. Then again, I suppose as a General, not many people would tell him no. "Why not?"
"Can you kill every last person that may or may not have committed a crime?" I asked, looking the man in the eyes. I had been a police officer for too long and there were some things that were just completely ingrained into my very being. The first one was that I was not judge, jury, and executioner. Every single being had the right to prove themselves innocent and demons were no exception.
"But they are demons," pointed out Greyson like I was still in kindergarten.
"And?" I asked. I was pretty sure that I knew what he was trying to say… that because they were all demons, then they were all guilty of the same crime, but I was starting to not think that way.
"Demons," he said, slower this time.
"Well aware," I snapped back. "I was the one that told you after all."
"Demons, as in those from Hell, sins, and evil. Any of that ringing a bell?" I simply laughed at his naivety. "First off, demons are not from Hell, they are simply from a different dimension. And like humans, not all of them are inherently bad. Why should those that are living their lives peacefully be killed simply because of a few bad apples?"
"Because they are demons," he replied as if it was the most obvious answer. I sighed in response. This was only leading us around in circles. Getting off Viktor's lap and readjusting my housecoat, I went over to the door.
"I am done with this discussion. I will not be killing any and all demons simply because you have some preconceived notion of what they are and who they are from people that have never even met them. The same goes for you, Van Helsing. I will help your people with their hunt as much as I can, but I will be the one deciding who is to be the prey." Before I was whatever it is that I am, I hated the idea of anyone playing judge. However, I am the only one that can see the threads of life, I am the only one to be able to tell the pristine from the dirty to the rotten, and only I can make that final call.
The men would just have to live with it.