The Informant

The Broker's words hung in the air like smoke from a poisoned fire. Around the Market, supernaturals whispered, placing bets on how long Marcus would survive whatever hunted his bloodline.

"Fascinating family drama," Lilith murmured, appearing at Marcus's elbow. "But perhaps we should discuss our business elsewhere? The walls here have ears, eyes, and occasionally teeth."

Marcus nodded, still processing. His father hadn't abandoned them he'd made himself bait. Fifteen years of hating a ghost, and the ghost had been trying to save them all along.

"Marcus." Amara's warning tone cut through his thoughts. "We're drawing too much attention."

She was right. The crowd pressed closer, supernatural senses focused on him like heat lamps. He could smell their interest vampires wondering if Moonborn blood tasted as powerful as it smelled, witches calculating what they could do with three drops, werewolves testing for weakness.

"The Broker's private booth," Lilith suggested, loud enough for others to hear. "Unless you'd prefer to conduct business in the parking lot like common dealers?"

The Broker inclined its shifting head. "The Chen princess speaks wisdom. Follow."

They moved through the Market Marcus, Amara, Lilith, and Zara, who'd materialized from the crowd like smoke. The Broker led them to a section Marcus hadn't noticed before, where reality seemed softer. A door that definitely hadn't existed a second ago opened into a room that felt bigger inside than outside.

"Spatial manipulation," Zara whispered. "High-level magic. The Broker's older than I thought."

The private booth looked like a CEO's office had mated with an opium den. Leather chairs that adjusted to each person's form, a bar stocked with bottles containing liquids that moved on their own, windows showing views of cities that might not exist.

"Privacy," the Broker announced, gesturing. The air shimmered, and suddenly the Market's noise cut off like someone had hit mute. "Speak freely. Even Covenant ears cannot penetrate these walls."

Lilith claimed a chair with feline grace, crossing legs that seemed to go on forever. "Now then. Let's discuss Dante Williams and why he needs to disappear."

"You're talking about killing him," Marcus said.

"I'm talking about survival." Her red lips curved. "Dante has the Codex. He's turning every street thug with a pulse. He's making deals with things that should stay in Europe. And worst of all?" She leaned forward. "He's boring. No style, no subtlety, just brute force and gold teeth."

"The Chen family's concerns are noted," Amara cut in, "but we're here for information, not assassination plots."

"Why not both?" Lilith produced a silver cigarette case, extracting something that definitely wasn't tobacco. "I know where Dante keeps the Codex. Exactly where, exactly how it's guarded. That information has value."

"What's your price?" Marcus asked.

"Smart boy, straight to business." She lit the cigarette with a fingertip, smoke curling in impossible patterns. "I want Dante's death, yes. But not by your hand. Too obvious, too political. Instead, I want you to take something from him first. His newest lieutenant Rico Suarez."

Marcus's jaw tightened. Rico had been there that night, hunting him through the alleys. Now he was a vampire, Dante's right hand.

"You want me to kill Rico?"

"Kill? No. I want you to turn him." Lilith's smile showed just a hint of fang. "Make him yours. Moonborn can claim vampires, did you know that? Rare, difficult, but possible. Take Dante's strongest piece off the board, and I'll hand you the Codex's location."

"That's slavery," Zara said flatly.

"That's nature." Lilith shrugged. "The strong dominate the weak. At least with Marcus, Rico might keep some personality. With Dante, he's just another gold-toothed thug."

Marcus looked at Amara, who was studying Lilith like a chess player studying the board. "It's possible," she admitted. "Moonborn dominance can override a vampire's sire bond. But it's dangerous. Fail, and Rico will know exactly what you attempted."

"I need to think about it," Marcus said.

"Of course. Take all the time you need." Lilith stood, stubbing out her cigarette. "Oh wait you have none. Every night you delay, Dante turns more kids from your neighborhood. How many childhood friends will you fight before you realize pretty morals are a luxury?"

She moved toward the door, then paused. "My card. Call when you're ready to play with the grown-ups."

The business card she left was black with silver text that seemed to move. Lilith Chen, it read, along with a number that probably didn't exist in normal phone systems.

After she left, the room felt heavier. The Broker watched from its chair, face cycling through features too fast to track.

"The Chen princess is dangerous," it observed. "But not wrong. Dante Williams upsets the balance. His ambitions reach beyond Atlanta."

"You know something," Marcus said.

"I know many things. But knowledge costs." The Broker steepled fingers that had too many joints. "You've paid for information about your father. Would you like to know about Dante's true patron?"

"I thought Cassandra Voss turned him."

"Cassandra was a tool. The hand behind her remains hidden." The Broker smiled with a mouth that went too wide. "That information would cost... significantly more."

"We'll pass," Amara said quickly. "Marcus, we should go. Your family"

"Is safe until dawn," the Broker interrupted. "I've extended the Market's protection to your blood kin. A courtesy, given our new relationship."

"Thank you," Marcus said, meaning it.

"Don't thank me yet. When I call in your promise, you may curse this night." The Broker waved, and the door appeared. "But that's future's problem. Tonight, you have other concerns. Your friend Zara has been uncommonly quiet."

They all turned to the witch, who'd been studying the room's wards with intense focus.

"These protections," she said slowly. "They're not just hiding us. They're hiding us from something specific. Something that's been watching the Market."

The Broker's features stopped shifting, settling on an expression of genuine surprise. "Clever little witch. Yes, something watches. Has been watching since young Marcus arrived. Old eyes, patient eyes, hungry eyes."

"The thing hunting my father," Marcus said.

"Perhaps. Or perhaps something else drawn by Moonborn power." The Broker stood, suddenly seeming much taller. "But that's all the free information you get. Leave now. The Market closes in one hour, and you don't want to be here when the cleaners arrive."

They filed out, back into the Market's chaos. But now Marcus could feel it a presence, like being watched through sniper scope. His beast stirred, hackles rising.

"We need Rico," he decided. "Not to claim him, but to question him. He was Dante's boy before the turn. He'll know things."

"Kidnapping a vampire from the Market violates neutral ground," Amara warned.

"Then we don't take him from the Market." Marcus scanned the crowd, enhanced senses sorting through the supernatural soup. There Rico's scent, copper and cologne and something chemical from his living days.

"Zara, can you track him without him knowing?"

The witch smiled. "Please. I've been tracking him since we arrived. Force of habit I like knowing where the predators are."

"Good. We follow him out, take him somewhere quiet." Marcus felt the beast approve, eager for action after so much talk. "He's going to tell us everything about Dante's operation."

"And if he doesn't want to talk?" Amara asked.

Marcus let his eyes flash gold, just for a second. "Then I'll remind him what Moonborn used to do to vampires who forgot their place."

They split up to avoid suspicion. Zara kept magical tabs on Rico while Marcus browsed the Market, pretending interest in various stalls. He bought a few things to maintain cover a vial of graveyard dirt, a silver chain blessed by five religions, a compass that pointed to danger instead of north.

"Moonborn," a voice hissed.

Marcus turned to find a creature that might have been human once, before something had melted and reformed its features. It manned a stall selling bottles of what looked like liquid starlight.

"I knew your father," it wheezed. "Bought protection charms, silver bullets, information. Always hunting, always moving. Driven man."

"When did you last see him?"

"Three months past. Came through heading north, following something's trail. Bought everything I had that could kill old things." The creature leaned closer, breath like rotting flowers. "Said if he didn't come back, to give his son a message."

Marcus's heart stopped. "What message?"

"'The blood remembers what the mind forgets. When the Hunter comes, don't fight like a man. Fight like what you really are.'" The creature pushed a wrapped package across the counter. "He paid in advance. Said you'd need this."

Inside the wrapping was a gun. Not modern something that belonged in a museum. The grip was carved bone, the metal inscribed with symbols that hurt to look at. Six chambers, each loaded with bullets that gleamed like captured moonlight.

"Moonborn killer," the creature explained. "Forged from meteor iron and virgin silver, cooled in the blood of the first wolf. Six shots that can kill anything under the moon. Your father traded ten years of his life for that weapon."

Marcus held the gun, feeling its weight not just physical, but spiritual. His father had literally given years of his life to leave him protection.

"Thank you," he managed through a tight throat.

"Don't thank me. Your father's tab is clear, but yours?" The creature smiled with too many teeth. "That's just beginning."

Marcus tucked the gun into his jacket as Zara's voice crackled through the earpiece she'd given him. "Rico's moving. Heading for the parking lot."

Time to work. Marcus made his way through the crowd, noting Amara's position by the main exit, Tobias somewhere in the shadows. His team, assembled without planning. When had that happened?

Outside, the parking lot was emptying as lesser supernaturals fled before the Market's end. Rico stood by a murdered-out Charger, talking on his phone. Still dressed like a corner boy designer jeans, Falcons jersey, chains that probably cost more than most people's cars. But he moved different now, with predator grace that made humans unconsciously avoid him.

"Yeah, D, I got it," Rico was saying. "Nah, the Moonborn didn't try nothing. Too scared, probably. A'ight, I'll meet you at the spot."

He hung up, turned toward his car, and found Marcus leaning against it.

"'Sup, Rico. Nice ride."

Rico's hand went to his waist old habits from when he carried. "Marcus. Heard you was here."

"Heard you got new teeth." Marcus stayed relaxed, but his beast was coiled, ready. "How's the vampire life treating you?"

"Better than being human." Rico's eyes went red, fangs extending. "Better than being weak."

"That what Dante told you? That you were weak?" Marcus pushed off the car, closing distance. "Funny, I remember you being pretty strong when you were hunting me. Three of you, guns out, real tough guys."

"That was before"

"Before you became another leech's bitch?" Marcus let his own power rise, eyes going gold. "At least when you were human, you were your own man. Now you're just Dante's puppet."

Rico snarled, vampire speed blurring him forward. But Marcus had been expecting it. He sidestepped, grabbed Rico's arm, and used his momentum to slam him face-first into the Charger's hood. The metal dented.

"See, that's the problem with new vampires," Marcus said conversationally, keeping Rico pinned. "Y'all got the speed but not the experience. And you definitely don't got the strength to challenge a Moonborn."

Rico struggled, but Marcus's grip was iron. The beast wanted to do more tear, rend, dominate. But Marcus kept control. Barely.

"Here's what's gonna happen," he continued. "You're gonna tell me everything about Dante's operation. Where he keeps the Codex, how many vampires he's turned, what he's planning. And you're gonna do it because the alternative is me reminding you what Moonborn were made to do."

"Fuck you," Rico spat. "I ain't telling you shit."

Marcus sighed. Then he let the beast peek out, just a little. His hand on Rico's neck grew claws. His voice dropped into harmonics that spoke directly to vampire instincts prey animal recognizing apex predator.

"Rico Suarez. Blood of Cassandra's blood. Childe of New Orleans. I see you."

The formal words hit Rico like electricity. His body went rigid, vampire nature recognizing something older, more dangerous. This was the voice that had made vampires hide in crypts for centuries, praying the moon wouldn't find them.

"You feel that?" Marcus whispered. "That's your beast telling you what I am. What I could do. Dante might own your sire bond, but I could take something deeper. Make you forget you were ever anything but mine."

It was a bluff mostly. Marcus had no idea how to actually claim a vampire. But Rico didn't know that, and fear was a powerful motivator.

"The warehouse," Rico gasped. "Eastern building, third floor. He keeps it in a safe made from cold iron and blessed silver. Password changes nightly tonight it's 'Toussaint.'"

Marcus's blood chilled. "He's using my family name?"

"Said it was funny. Using Moonborn names to protect Moonborn secrets." Rico's voice was strained. "Please, man. I told you what you wanted."

"How many vampires?"

"Forty-three turned, maybe twenty more servants. Plus the wolves he bought from the mountain packs."

"What's he planning?"

"Big move tomorrow night. Hitting the Covenant meeting, taking out the old heads. Gonna declare himself Prince of Atlanta, make the city a free zone for any supernatural that follows him."

Marcus processed this. A coup, bloody and public. It would shatter the fragile peace, bring human attention, start a war that would paint Atlanta's streets red.

"One more question," Marcus said. "Who's really behind this? Who gave Dante the idea, the resources?"

Rico went very still. "I don't know. I swear. Dante meets with someone, but always alone. Says it's insurance, keeping us in the dark."

Marcus believed him. Fear had a particular smell, and Rico reeked of it. He released the vampire, stepping back.

"Run," he said simply. "Get out of Atlanta tonight. Because after tomorrow, any vampire wearing Dante's mark is fair game."

Rico didn't need to be told twice. He scrambled into his car, peeling out with smoking tires. Marcus watched him go, then turned to find his team emerging from shadows.

"The Covenant meeting," Amara said grimly. "If Dante hits that"

"Every major player in Atlanta in one room," Zara finished. "It'll be a massacre."

"Then we stop it." Marcus pulled out the gun his father had left, checking the chambers. Six shots for anything under the moon. "But first, we get that Codex. Tonight, while Dante's planning his coup."

"That's suicide," Amara said. "Forty-three vampires plus wolves? We'd need an army."

"Or a distraction." Marcus smiled, and it was all teeth. "Zara, can you get word to Lilith? Tell her if she wants Dante gone, now's her chance. While he's hitting the Covenant, we hit his base."

"Playing all sides," Tobias observed. "Dangerous game."

"Only game in town." Marcus looked at each of them his mentor, his witch, his steady anchor. When had they become his? When had he become theirs? "We stop Dante, save the Covenant, get the Codex. All in one night."

"And your family?" Amara asked.

"Safe until dawn, the Broker said." Marcus touched the pendant his mother had given him, drawing strength. "That gives us six hours to save the city."

They moved toward their cars, plans already forming. But Marcus paused, looking back at the Market. That feeling of being watched was stronger now, like crosshairs on his spine.

Something was coming. Something that had hunted his father for fifteen years. Something that would eventually come for him.

But tonight, he had more immediate monsters to face.

The moon was setting, but Marcus could still feel it in his blood. Tomorrow would bring new challenges, bigger threats. But tonight?

Tonight, he was going hunting.