Their destination towered like an unfeeling giant of glass and steel as they approached. Not only was this the headquarters of one of the largest companies in the world, it also held the American Keepers headquarters. Not to mention the five most powerful beings on their plane of existence.

  Dragon Industries was one of the widest ranging and powerful parent companies in the world. Their subsidiaries ranged from technology to agriculture. Logan smirked at thinking how unfair beings making a company really was. They don’t only have, on average, over a century of experience in both interpersonal and business deals, they are also able to uncover opposing company’s secrets with a few spells or an agent quite literally hiding in the shadows.

  Using a handful of companies like Dragon Industries, Keepers were able to buy, bribe or blackmail their way into practically every newspaper, news station, social media site, and every other form of communication around the world. What better way to hide than control how the information is delivered. If something leaks, just bury it as a conspiracy theory or muddy the waters with so many conflicting reports no one believes any of it. The Keepers had been using noble families and merchants since their conception. In the end, those who held the money held the power.

  Logan could almost feel the representatives waiting for him. They were dropped off in the lowest level of the underground parking garage. It was absolute silence as Logan, Miyuki, and Sarah were met by building security and brought inside. Multiple Guardian-class were waiting and escorted them to the central elevator, two of which entered with them.

  The Guardian-class uniform was very similar to his own. They both had bullet proof vests thin enough to fit under street clothes and cargo pants. The only real difference was that instead of black their shirt-vests were a grey color, had a shield logo on their chest and shoulder, and a device in their left ears. Other than the pistols in hip holsters, they seemed to be unarmed. That meant nothing when it came to beings. When fireballs or whips made of razor-sharp stone could be conjured at a moment's notice, being “unarmed” meant nothing.

  Once the doors closed, one of the guardians hit the series of floor buttons to let them descend to the underground being-only floors. After the shiver of a scanner they started downward.

  “What’s going to happen to me?” Sarah asked from where she was shivering. Logan guessed her tiger hadn’t completely awakened after all.

  He kept his eyes straight forward. “They’re going to interview us, examine our discoveries, and then test you.”

  “What do you mean ‘test me’?”

  “He means they’ll check if you can keep the secret or not.” Miyuki added. “If you can, welcome to the club, but if you can't...” Miyuki let the statement hang.

  The panicking girl turned to Logan. “What will happen? And you couldn’t have warned me?”

  Logan glanced at her. “We were more focused on not being stuck in a small confined space with a berserk animal. I’m pretty sure you were on the edge of snapping as it was.”

  Sarah clenched her jaw and stayed silent.

  It took a moment for Logan to answer. “They’ll remove your beast by force.”

  Her eyes widened. “Why didn’t you say you could remove it?! Get this thing out of me!” she said with a flash of anger. She was going to grab him until she was stopped when the largest of the two guardians put their arm between them.

  That was when the door opened they were faced with a wide area leading to the council chamber. The room was, in a single word, strange. It was like they left the modern world and returned to the age of knights and castles. The walls and slightly-arched ceiling looked like they were made of old stone. Large brown bricks held together with dark mortar. The floor was different as it was polished granite with not a single seam to be found. The whole thing wasn’t lit by a single bulb or flame. Along the ceiling was a line of light with no clear source. The interior decorator for that level was apparently determined to keep the gravitas of the floor’s purpose as a place that can change the world’s fate. The whole thing was completed by two onyx doors.

  He considered the change in atmosphere to be melodramatic and was an excess expense. He did have to admit it did put a certain mood to the whole ordeal. If nothing else, him trying to figure out if the walls were actual blocks or were cosmetic additions distracted him. His master wouldn’t waste all the money that it would’ve taken to actually bring in and install full blocks. It was more likely that they were purely cosmetic and were only a few centimeters thick. He was pulled from his momentary distraction by a shout.

  “Well?!” Sarah demanded.

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  “It is possible to remove it, yes.” Logan said, stepping into what was essentially the waiting room. “That is the last resort because the extraction process includes damaging the host's very soul.”

  “If that means getting this thing out of me I don’t care!”

  He turned to look her in the eye, doing his best to make sure he had her full attention. His hands turned into fists as he remembered the screams. “There is a reason an extraction is a last resort. Any manipulation of the soul results only in unbearable pain. Imagine your heart being forcefully pulled from your chest, shattering your ribs, shredding your skin, and still feeling it as it floats before you and parts of it are ripped off one by one. That all ends with whatever is left being pushed back into the gaping cavity as you feel your flesh and bone writhe and knit itself back together. All this time you are conscious no matter how much you pray for the pain to end. That is what beast extraction is like.”

  He had only twice had to witness such a procedure and never wanted to again. The wails they released when their beast was pulled from them was chilling. One of them was turned into a permanent sobbing mess while the other died on the spot.

  Sarah turned white as he described the process. He could almost see her hope turn from her beast being removed to it remaining where it was.

  There was a good fifty feet between the elevator and the chamber’s doors. The walk up was deathly quiet, the only sound was the group's footsteps bouncing off the stone walls. They were stopped before they reached the doors by the escorting guardians who took positions between them and the chamber.

  Logan swallowed as he imagined what waited on the other side. He once again stood before them as a failure. Unlike before this was a full council, a call that hasn’t been made in over thirty years. He froze in front, unwilling to open it and enter the space and no doubt received punishment for his failure.

  He continued to remain frozen in place until a warm hand was placed on his shoulder. He looked to the owner to find Miyuki and her ever infectious smile greeting him.

  “I’m right here,” she said, “we’re both responsible for this. Where you go, I go.”

  He couldn’t help but let a smile show through his fear. He took a deep breath. “Thanks, Miyuki, I needed that.” With a look of renewed determination, he stood straight, full of nervous confidence.

  He composed himself until he heard someone hyperventilating behind him. He turned and saw Sarah’s wild eyes.

  “I-I can’t do it,” she took a step back and away from the door.

  As she began to run back to the elevator Logan acted. She was only able to take two steps before he grabbed ahold of her arm. He expected her to struggle some before Miyuki or one of the guardians assisted in restraining her. She instead turned to him, grabbed onto his arm, and bit down with all she could. He grunted but didn’t let go. He bled as her teeth sunk into him with more force than a regular human should be able to produce.

  She only let go when Miyuki had appeared and wrenched her free arm behind her back and gave it a wrench. Sarah cried out as she tried to take a bite out of Miyuki.

  As she turned Logan repositioned her arm and with Miyuki, brought her to the stone floor. She struggled while screaming to be let go. Her panicked anger quickly turned to tears as her demands turned to pleas.

  She stopped struggling and collapsed. “Let me go,” she said, her sorrow clear. “Please let me go.”

  Logan’s heart wrenched at her pain. Admittedly, his sympathy was lessened by the still painful injury. While the wound was already healing, his wolf was growling that someone would dare bite them.

  Miyuki pulled back and made sure Sarah could see her. “Sarah, as we’ve said, we’re so sorry this has happened to you. This is for your own good. Until you’re stable, you are a danger to everyone around you.”

  Sarah only responded by looking away and putting her forehead to the granite floor. He only let go when Miyuki gave him a quick nod. He stood and stepped back as Miyuki gently helped Sarah to her feet.

  “How about this,” she said carefully, “you liked the database, right?”

  Sarah sniffled and nodded.

  “After you’ve been accepted as a being, there is so much more you can learn. We have detailed records that are thousands of years old. Unaltered firsthand accounts of nearly every event in human and being history. Did you know that the Great Pyramid of Khufu was built because a group of beings needed to hide a massive spell array that’s still being used today? How about the fact Atlantis actually existed as a being sanctuary but because too many humans discovered it the entire island was sunk? Oh, how about we used J. R. R. Tolkien and Gary Gygax to spread awareness of magic and mythology?”

  “Really? You used Dungeons and Dragons?” Sarah asked, her curiosity getting the better of her.

  “Yup. What better way to slip in our history and culture into the human zeitgeist than through a world-wide network of nerds. Sure, a bunch of things are different, but with a few ‘inspirations’ given to the right authors, it’s close enough.”

  “Like you didn’t play D&D when it came out,” Logan added.

  Miyuki gave him a withering look, “That’s not the point.”

  Logan saw some life return to Sarah’s eyes. He released a sigh of relief. Maybe they would be able to get her through this after all. Before they could try and stabilize her more, the silent guards told them it was their turn to enter.

  There was only enough time for the three of them to return to their original places before the guardians pushed the monumental doors open signaling the start of the biggest interrogation of their lives.