Chapter 6

Keyx Sarris, walked out of the D Hotel he was staying at and looked at the compound across the street. From the outside it looked like a normal extremely large corporate campus. It was meant to appear that way, to hide in plain sight as it were. The office he worked out of was small and inconspicuous. This compound was huge.

As he walked towards the D Corporation he thought about the whirlwind of change that had taken place in his life. A few weeks ago he’d been a simple investigator of the unusual. Now he was being sent to meet *THE* Darius Deus.

To his surprise, his whole apartment had been packed up and put into storage. He’d been called into the Director’s office and told he was being transferred. He was still trying to fully understand what that entailed. The only thing he was certain of was that his life was now going to be very different.

As he walked in and approached the front desk, the girl there smiled and standing up said, “Mr. Sarris, welcome to the D Corporation Headquarters. We’ve been expecting you. This way please,” she instructed, leading him down a long hallway and into a conference room. “Please wait here. Ms. Henderson, our head of HR, will be with you shortly.”

Sure enough, Keyx didn’t have to wait long. Ms. Henderson, a beautiful 50-something woman, walked in and smiled at him as she sat down. “Mr. Sarris. Welcome to Los Angeles. I’m sure you have a lot of questions. How about I explain a few things and we go from there. First of all, congratulations on your promotion to Lead Investigator.”

“Thank you,” Keyx smiled.

“Marcus Grazia is officially your manager but for your first assignment you’ll be reporting directly to Mr. Deus. He’ll be explaining the details of your assignment.”

“Of course.”

“The branch you came from was small but as you know the D Corporation is nothing like the outside world thinks and we keep it that way on purpose. You’ve been chosen based on your exemplary work. As you’re well aware our motto is, ‘If you don’t think it’s real, it probably is.’ We maintain the balance of the world. We keep the peace between humans and Mythics.

“To the outside world, and in particular the city of Los Angeles, we’re a multi-conglomerate corporation with dealings in high-level security, archaeology, and technology just to name a few areas. As you move around the city you’ll see evidence of D Corp all over. We do that on purpose. We hide in plain sight.”

“That makes sense. At the office I came from, I only worked regularly with one Mythic. What should I expect here?”

“A good number of the employees are Mythics. The vast majority are humans, although many have a talent of some sort, which is usually why they were recruited. We ask that you expect the unexpected. Things work quite differently here.”

“Absolutely.”

“We’ll provide you with housing, so for now you’ll continue to live at the company’s hotel and your pay will make your life very comfortable. You’ll have use of all of the recreational facilities including membership into Club Mythos.”

“How much can you tell me about Mr. Deus before I meet with him?”

“Darius Deus is our CEO and an immortal. His lifemate, aka wife, Helen, is our COO. The chain of command is long and complicated and varies by department so I’ll leave that to Marcus to explain. You’ll also interact with Theanna Daniels, Mr. Deus’ granddaughter. Theanna is a Mythic and quite important to the corporation. She’ll be a valuable asset to your investigations. So, Mr. Sarris, do you have any more questions for me?”

“Not right now, no.”

“A lot of what you’ll learn will be on the job. Marcus has been with us a while and I’m sure he can answer any further questions. Also my door is always open to you. Here is your security card and ID,” Ms Henderson said, the cards appearing in her hand out of thin air. “Don’t lose them. Now, let me show you where your department is and we’ll get you settled in,” Ms. Henderson smiled at him as they stood up and she led him out of the conference room.

After walking through a series of maze-like hallways, Ms. Henderson led him into an area filled with computers, files and cubicles. Walking up to a tall, dark-haired man, she said, “Marcus Grazia, meet Keyx Sarris, your newest investigator. Mr. Sarris, good luck. Come see me if you need anything.” With that Ms. Henderson turned and left them alone.

“Welcome to Los Angeles. I’ve read your file, impressive. That being said, Los Angeles is a whole different kind of animal than you’re used to. The Mythic to human ratio is ten times higher than in Athens. The activity here is off the chart. It is our job to find links, prevent incidences and solve Mythic crimes.

“Your last investigation involved linking Saalah to the High Daemoni Queen, Innara. It caught the attention of Mr. Deus. That being said, Mr. Deus is waiting to meet with you. We don’t keep him waiting. So let’s go.”

“Of course,” Keyx responded as he walked quickly with his new boss.

“So I read you were recruited after coming face to face with a few sleeping dragons. Those creatures give new meaning to waking up on the wrong side of the cave!” Marcus said with a friendly smile.

“I was extremely lucky the Centurions intervened when they did, that’s for sure.”

“Most of the humans here have some sort of crazy recruitment story. Mine was a bit more cliché, I was almost a vampire meal. Yeah, yeah just like in the movies, but scarier and without the ooey gooey teenage angst.”

Keyx found himself chuckling and really liking Marcus. He could already see they were going to get along well. “So, Mr. Grazia...”

“Marcus, please. Mr. Grazia makes me feel old.”

“So, Marcus... any idea why my last investigation caught Mr. Deus’ attention?”

“His granddaughter, Theanna. Innara is also her grandmother. There is a whole family tree there that's as complicated as it is messy. I’ll explain more later,” Marcus instructed as they exited the elevator onto the top floor which opened onto a large, very nice waiting room.

An older lady sat at a desk towards the back of the room. As they approached the desk, the lady stood up and smiled at them. “Mr. Sarris, welcome to Los Angeles. I’m Merie, Mr. Deus’ Assistant. He is expecting you.”

“I’ll wait for you here,” Marcus stated as he sat down.

Merie led him to a closed door, which she knocked on and then opened to reveal a very large office. “Mr. Sarris is here to see you.”

“Thank you, Merie. Have Marcus join us,” Darius stated as he stood up.

“Of course.”

“Mr. Sarris, welcome. I’m Darius Deus and this is my granddaughter, Theanna Daniels,” he introduced as he shook Keyx’s hand.

As Keyx turned to Thea he smiled, “Pink lady from the airport!”

“My suitcase rescuer! It's nice to formally meet you!” Thea replied with a genuine smile.

As Marcus joined them Darius said to him, “Thank you for joining us, Marcus. As Mr. Sarris is so new to Los Angeles, I want you to partner with him on this investigation.”

“Of course, sir,” Marcus replied.

“Now, Mr. Sarris...”

“Keyx, please.”

Darius smiled and nodded as he led them all to a large conference table. “Keyx, now the reason I need you and Marcus is due to the nature of the investigation. We believe that your conclusions on your last investigation were quite accurate. Innara and the Saalah are indeed connected. We also believe that is just the tip of the iceberg.

“Prince Damian of Ikisat has been experiencing a series of uprisings and attacks. Nothing overly serious but enough to cause problems and a major distraction. We believe it’s connected to the Saalah incident. We weren’t sure what exactly that connection was until this morning.

“We have been informed of a prophecy from a reliable Seer that has led us to believe that the end goal is to release Mordecai. Prince Damian and Mordecai are mortal enemies with Damian having the power and ability to stop Mordecai.”

“Shit! Are you sure, sir? That’s a nasty door to open that most Mythics want no part of,” Marcus shuddered.

Before Darius could respond to his question, he noticed that Thea’s nails had turned into claws and were dug into the table, her Daemoni horns had suddenly appeared and her eyes were solid black. As she started to snarl softly he asked, concerned, “What is it, Thea?”

Gasping as she released the table and she returned to her normal human look, she growled. “What a jerkoff move! Nothing for over a year and he tries to pull that?!?” With a deep sigh she looked around the table. “Sorry. Damian just tried to pull the ole Daemoni Prince card and summoned me as if I were a lower Daemoni.”

“Why would he summon you?” Keyx asked.

Thea shrugged as she said, “We have a lot of history as he's my betrothed. Honestly, though, if it were something urgent he’d have done more than just summon me. I'll look into it after our meeting.”

“That being said, I need you to find out anything and everything you can. We need to prevent Mordecai from being released. Keyx, Marcus work with Thea. Utilize her information and connections. You report directly to me. For this investigation I’ve increased your security clearance to Level 7.”

“We will get started right away, sir,” Marcus replied as he stood up with Keyx. “Thea, let’s talk after lunch.”

Thea nodded as she watched them leave. Once they’d left she sighed deeply. “Daemoni summoning? What the heck, Darius?”

“I don’t know but he’s never attempted that before so it worries me.”

“I’ll check with Sam at Mythos. I’m meeting Kira there so I can find out if everything is ok.”

“Sounds good. And if it turns out to be a jerkoff move feel free to beat him up for me,” Darius smiled slyly.

“I will, after I kick him in the nuts for me!”