The morning after, Mike was in the process of setting up a new residence. His old place had been ransacked, so he couldn’t go back. There was a knock at the door and his aunt, a white court vampire, and 3 of her friends wanted to talk. Before he could bolt, they kicked the door in and told him to have a seat. She wanted her money back, with interest. And while he was working on that, she wanted him to take out a pack of lycanthropes, called the Rax, that was in her way.
Alvin heads into the police station and is called into a meeting with all of the other cops. They’re told that with all of the banking systems cleared out, they won’t be receiving a paycheck this week. They also called in all available officers to keep the peace in case people riot.
Kara is woken by her man-servant and given the newspaper, which clearly notes the global collapse. She’s loaded, so she’s got some cash laying around. But her fortunes are gone. She makes some inquiries, but no one’s got any answers yet. She decides to head into town to volunteer her time. As she’s leaving, 3 winter court soldiers stop her and declare the winter queen’s displeasure that she’s working with sorcerers. Kara’s involvement clearly means the white council is involved as well, jeopardizing any relations she’s been trying to foster between them. Though she disavows any involvement with the sorcerers, the soldiers don’t care. They’re following orders and the winter queen is not known for her mercy. Kara manages to buy herself some time before she has to turn herself in to the winter queen for punishment.
Maeve gives her report about the Denarian to church officials and then heads out to help people. She happens upon a man stealing money from a woman and her 3 children in their apartment. Maeve quickly subdues him and takes his gun. She lets him go, but as he leaves, a shen demon coming in the front door sets him on fire and attacks Maeve.
Sean is passing by, looking to help people, when he sees a shen demon land on the roof of an apartment building. He climbs the fire escape to investigate and finds Maeve fighting another. The hallway catches fire as Sean dispatches one of the demons with a single blow.
James is finally released from police custody (he was implicated in the chemical plant explosion) and learns that Reg, one of his team, is missing. He also hears of the economy collapse. But more importantly, a member of Charon has been implicated in the assassination of several Pennsylvanian politicians. Just then, the FBL come knocking on his door. James grabs his gun and heads out the fire escape as the FBI agents pursue. It takes considerable effort for him to lose them.
Mike, who was a pawn in the plot to collapse the economy, does some research and uncovers the news about Charon. He also finds that similar assassinations, occurring in every city with a U.S mint, and perpetrated by Charon, have occurred this morning. When Mike fails to get in touch with James, he takes matters into his own hands and begins erasing James’ identity from every database he can get access to.
Alvin and 2 other officers are assigned to protect a block with 3 banks. When people start congregating at one of the closed banks, Alvin knocks some heads together and sparks wave of terrified people (those knocks were pretty scary). As the panicked populace threatens to trample each other, a small, jesterly man gets Alvin’s attention and tells him the winter queen wants to speak with him. Alvin has no time and wades into the sea of people to rescue some children who were being trampled, He tosses the unconscious man (who got knocked), the children, and the jester into a bus to protect them. With the crowd dispersed, the jester offers Alvin some money to go with him to see the queen. Alvin agrees and soon the winter queen is offering to reward him if he seeks out some criminals and makes an example out of them. He agrees, she sends him after Kara and the sorcerers, and hands him a fat stack of cash to help him out, with the promise of a more reward when he is successful.
Maeve defeats the other shen as a bunch of small shen come down the stairs to face Sean. Sean tries to intimidate the smaller foes, but they merge together to form a much larger demon. Sean struggles to hurt it. Maeve works to put the fire out before it spreads throughout the apartment building. As Sean and the shen fight, the floor collapses, leaving Maeve stranded. The shen grabs Maeve and tries to leave with her, but she breaks free. Before they’re able to destroy the demon, it flees. They get the fire out and help the people evacuate. As the cops and fire department begin to arrive, Maeve flees and is immediately arrested for possession of a sword and firearm. Sean ponders whether he’s going to have to break her out of jail.
James gets in touch with Mike for help. They meet in Rittenhouse Park at dusk. Mike tells James the bad news about the other Charon attacks. He then comes clean about the hacking plot. Mike also gives James the intel on the Rax, who James has a history with (and has been tracking for years). They’ll need to work together to take care of the lycanthropes.
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