Chapter 18

Inutaisho entered the manor after working at the HQ since 5am. Being retired for almost eleven years, his body was definitely not accustomed to working. He did not miss the mental exhaustion that came with the title. He was amazed how he ever did it for so long in the first place. Seeing the maids scurrying around with vases of flowers and polishing the crystal china over the grand table, he let out a deep sigh. The meeting of the Six clans was tonight. He took a deep breath and rolled his eyes. He was not in the mood to entertain the other elders tonight, especially Han Hideko.

"Saya!" he called out, calmly, walking to the great room knowing that's where she'd be. Sure enough, she was sitting down on the couch drinking a lemon Earl Grey tea, chatting with a couple of Elders. Lady Ariyana of the snake tribe and Lord Tsuyoi of the black wolves looked up at him and bowed their heads.

"Lord Inutaisho…" Lady Ariyana greeted, her ice blue eyes batted between him and Saya. "We just rewatched the sparring match between the twins. How impressive that little Kimora could flip Reishu over her shoulder like that. The Shiro-Inu clan's strength have never fazed me, but to have an heir that's half human, and exhibit that same strength, well…let's say Saya doesn't have to do that much convincing to alter tradition when the time comes."

Inutaisho laughed, politely. "Oh, Lady Ariyana…the council wouldn't have it, we will need Lady Luciana and Lord Modo Kai to agree, and we all know Lord Modo Kai will never accept a female nonetheless, with human blood to lead the clan. Don't entertain the old lady."

Saya frowned. "Our granddaughters can handle the throne, especially side by side. Think about it, instead of having one powerful king, we would have two powerful Queens."

"Saya, I would love nothing more than for our girls to take over, but that choice will ultimately be the council's, plus we will need Kagome and Sesshomaru's blessing and they may not agree."

"Would Lady Kagome decline?" Lord Tsuyoi asked.

"Not at all. Our son would. Sesshomaru is overly protective of his family, more so than we have ever expected from him. Convincing him will be the greatest struggle."

Saya scoffed. "Well, I'm not worried about him."

Inutaisho sighed and rolled his eyes. One of the butlers brought him over a cup of tea.

"When is everyone else coming?" Inutaisho asked, glancing at his watch. Barely five minutes passed 2pm.

"Meeting isn't until 5pm, Lord Tsuyoi and Lady Ariyana came earlier to bring something to our attention." Saya gave Inutaisho a look only he could decipher. Oh boy.

"Listen, we are all old friends here and we just wanted to put it out there because the rumors are getting out of hand and we would love to clear the air."

"Please proceed." Inutaisho prepared himself knowing what they were going to ask.

"There's talk that Lady Kagome and Lord Sesshomaru are having marital problems, and that there's a possible indiscretion between Lady Kagome and Lord Sasuke Hideko?"

"Nonsense…" Saya scoffed. "Where have you heard such a thing?"

"It was apparent that Lord Sesshomaru wasn't present much for the past year or two and Lady Kagome had been seen with the son of Han Hideko plenty of times, dining with each other in what some have observed as intimate. There's also rumor they dated in highschool?"

Inutaisho laughed. "Yes, they have been in each other's company but I can assure you, in the most platonic and respectful way. Yes, they courted briefly, it is of no surprise to us but they were very young and Han Hideko made sure that nothing would come of it. You may see him around more often because his son fancies our Kimora."

"Really?" Lady Ariyana smiled. "Well, isn't that a conflict of interest up and coming."

"They're just children." Lady Saya brushed off. "I'm not concerned at all but definitely those rumors are simply that, rumors. Sesshomaru and Kagome are doing well."

"Ok, we were just concerned. It does seem like those two can't catch a break. Ever since they started dating, drama seems to follow them wherever they go."

They were all quiet for a moment. Inutaisho furrowed his brows as he focused on his thoughts.

"Has anyone seen or talked to Lord Modo Kai? I went over to the course for lunch and didn't see him. It's quite unusual."

Saya groaned and twirled her pearl necklace. "Not every pensionary wastes time on the golf course like you."

Inutaisho frowned. "Actually, Lord Modo Kai takes his luncheon swings very seriously and has been there every day for the last ten years. So I'm a bit concerned."

"He's right. Lord Modo Kai wasn't at the spa this morning either. Lady Ariyana took out her cellphone and tried calling him. "It's going to voicemail."

There was a commotion at the entrance and they all looked toward it. Haji and Remy barged in, their heads bowed, practically transparent with their pale faces.

"My Lord," Haji said, Inutaisho could sense concern and he stood up slowly and looked between the both of them.

"Where is Kimora and Kagome?" he asked, feeling a sense of terror.

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Kimora may have been psychic but Samara couldn't shake off a weird feeling that something was wrong. To make matters worse, Cado was covering her and Arahim as they were escorted out by twenty extra guards, including Arahim's security.

"What's going on, Kayle?." Arahim asked his private guard. "Was there a threat?"

"I've been ordered to bring you to the Shiro Inu Manor. Your father will meet you there."

"But what's happening?" Samara asked Cado. "Can you bring me to my mother's job? Remy took Kimora there."

"We've been ordered to bring you back to the manor." Cado said.

Samara looked toward the entrance of the academy, hundreds of armed guards stood sentry beside black limousines. She could see Lahira and Denali going into one limo, Gareth into another. Feeling tensed, she realized she was holding Kimora's sketchbook. "Is Kimora back at the manor?"

Cado didn't reply. Samara observed around her and looked to Arahim.

"They're taking the royal line. There must be a threat."

He frowned and looked at his phone when he got an alert.

"They're closing all airports, tunnels and bridges. A shutdown like this, there's definitely a threat. Samara…someone must have been abducted. That's probably why they're taking us into protection. Shiro Inu Manor is a safe house for the clans."

"Oh my god, I just want to get home." She said as she pulled out her cellphone to call her mother. There was no answer. She tried Kimora, there was no answer. She tried for her father, there was no answer. Her heart started to race. "Cado, what's happening?"

Cado wouldn't reply as he pulled her into the car. Samara growled and slammed the car door shut, the bulletproof glass window merely shook by the force.

Samara cried. "What's happening? Is my father alright?"

Cado took a deep breath. "As far as I'm concerned. Yes."

"What about my mother?"

Cado didn't answer. He looked at her and Arahim and opened the car door again.

"Cado!" Samara shouted. "Answer me!"

Cado took another deep breath. "Lady Kagome…is missing, along with Miss Kimora."

Samara felt her lungs cave in. Quick images passed through her mind, thoughts of something bad happening to her sister or mother. Tears fell faster than she could wipe them. She tried to quiet her mind and clasped her ears as she felt the pain of possibly losing them. She started to panic.

"Oh my god! Oh my god!"

Arahim grabbed her arms and shook her. "Samara, please calm down. Don't let your mind go there! Your mother and Kimora are strong, focus on that."

"Oh my god, oh my god, I should have gone with her!" she choked, her lips curling as she sobbed. She began to think how awful she had been to her mother all year and how she was just starting to make up for it when her father moved back.

Cado attempted to force Samara into the limo but Arahim raised his hand to stop him.

"Samara…worrying won't do any good. Take a deep breath, let's get in the car and head to your house. I'm sure we can get more answers there."

"Oh, my poor mother. Arahim, I have been so hard on her for a while, I was just starting to redeem myself. If anything happens…to her, I could never forgive myself."

"Take a deep breath, you are of the Shiro Inu clan, and you don't panic, remember?"

Samara struggled taking deep breaths but his words resonated within her. "Yes...you're right."

Arahim gestured toward the door and she entered. He looked at Cado for reassurance but didn't get any. When they got into the limo, he looked through his text messages. His face tightened and he gazed up at Samara.

"This is insane. Lord Modo Kai has been missing since this morning as well."

"What's going on?" Samara's voice trembled and she threw Kimora's sketchbook to the side and covered her face. Tears ran down as she tried to stay strong but she was so scared. It just never occurred to her that anything could happen to her family. She tried calling her father once again, but he wasn't picking up.

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It was a little after 1pm. Although Halo was a nightclub, they were open already for their liquor deliveries. Sesshomaru parked the car out front and surveyed the delivery men unloading the trucks. Koga was on the tablet reviewing the tenant sheet for Skyview. A young man with blonde spikey hair opened up the back door, pulled out a cigarette to smoke it, and let the delivery guys roll in boxes of spirits and kegs of beer with their hand trucks. Sesshomaru glanced over at Koga who seemed engrossed in the tablet.

"What are you doing? Are you still reviewing the tenant sheet?"

"One second, I think I'm on to something here." Koga remained focused. "I think I'm going to need a hefty raise. I'm, like, so awesome."

Sesshomaru rolled his eyes.

"Listen," Koga looked at him gravely. "Dr. Lee sent an email five minutes ago. He ran a few more samples on Naraku before they closed the case, and they found traces of something called…I'm probably not saying this right… Cosmos astrosanguineus in his hair. Now yeah, what the hell is that, you ask? Well, I googled it and it's a flower. A chocolate scented flower. A very rare flower actually."

"Ok?"

"So I typed Chocolate Cosmos and I skim all these links about the flowers and its background, there are also links about bars around the world that make chocolate flavored cocktails using shit like Godiva or Crème de Cacao, but, I narrowed down the results for New York City…" Koga's eyes widened. "This fuckin place right here," He pointed to Halo. "They have a cocktail list and they garnish one of their drinks with an actual chocolate cosmo flower, coincidence?"

Sesshomaru turned to unlock his car door when Koga stopped him.

"Dude, relax. Don't go guns blazing and breaking doors down just yet. I'm running a background check to find out who's the owner of this club."

Sesshomaru sighed. He was getting too impatient. While they waited quietly in the car for Koga to receive the information, Sesshomaru took out Dmitri's book and scanned through the pages again.

"Got it." Koga announced out loud. "Hiten Izumi."

"Never heard of him."

Koga opened the file. "Oh yes, you did." He turned his tablet to show him a picture on the screen. "We lived with this dude for a month before you left for Italy to model with Kagome."

Sesshomaru's gaze narrowed at the screen. "I really can't recall."

Koga rolled his eyes. "I'm not surprised. You were all about Kagome that time so everyone else was insignificant. I remember he had some issues back then with his father, he got arrested and we just never heard from him again. I wonder why the Angelos would be hanging out at a demon club? Whoa…Hiten was part of the Jade Order? Wasn't that the clan you were supposed to take over for your mother?"

"The Jade Order?" Sesshomaru muttered to himself. "They disbanded not too long after I took over my father's clans. My mother left them as well to follow me. We had over thousands of members, it is possible."

"We are definitely on the right track." Koga added, and looked at his phone. "Shit, my phone's dead." He plugged his charger into the cigar lighter receptacle. Sesshomaru quickly patted his jacket and checked the side console and growled. He left his phone back at the office.

"Do me a favor, when your phone turns back on, send a text to Kagome that I don't have my phone so she doesn't get upset when I don't respond?"

Koga chuckled. "You're so whipped."

Sesshomaru ignored his comment and studied the building quietly, his gaze fell on a symbol spray painted on the side of the back door. There was a symbol of the Angelos logo on the brick wall, the sword of heaven impaled through the crescent moon. Indeed, he thought, why would a demon club have any business housing a terrorist human organization?

"Send out a request to expedite a search warrant based on that flower analysis from the autopsy. See if they can email it in the next few minutes. Let's go pay a visit to this Hiten Izumi."

They got out of the car and made their way through the back door. The blonde boy with spikey hair frowned and then took a step back.

"Lord Sesshomaru." He said, and hesitated a bow of the head. "We aren't open yet, we open later in the day, can I help you? My name is Ryu."

"Where may we find Hiten Izumi?"

"Mr. Izumi? I mean, he's the owner, he kind of makes his own hours, ya know? But the manager's here if you want to talk to her."

Sesshomaru looked over at Koga. "Anything yet?"

"Still waiting." Koga sighed.

"Come, I'll take you to Kagura. Maybe she can tell you where Hiten is."

"Kagura?" Koga and Sesshomaru shared a look. Was this the same Kagura that lived among the twelve roommates back in the West Village loft. Taking a trip down memory lane, literally, as they followed Ryu down the steps into the basement. They passed a walk in fridge, keg room, boiler room, electrical room, then stopped in front of the office.

"Kagura, you have some visitors." Ryu tapped gently on the slightly ajar door.

Kagura took a moment, concentrating as she entered numbers into an excel sheet, shaking her head at the discrepancies. Her red eyes blinked away from the computer as she turned her head to face them. She immediately went pale and stood up from her chair.

"L-lord Sesshomaru?"

"Whaddup, Kagura. Looking good." Koga winked.

Kagura scowled. "Koga, I see you haven't changed."

"We are pressed for time, so let's skip the pleasantries." Sesshomaru looked bored. "We need to investigate your club."

"and you haven't changed either." She smiled at Sesshomaru. "How's Kagome and the kids?"

"Doing well." He glowered. "Where's Hiten Izumi?"

Kagura pressed her lips. "Not sure. I don't keep tabs on my boss."

"What do you know about the Angelos?" Sesshomaru went right to it.

Kagura stared wide eyed and looked between him and Koga. "N-nothing, why would I know anything about a human gang?"

"Their symbol is spray painted on the side of your building. We also know a few of them frequent here."

"We've had vandalism issues here in the past. And though this may be a demon club, thanks to your laws, we allow humans in as well to avoid any discriminatory lawsuits. If they do come here, they come as patrons therefore that would be the extent of our association with them."

"Fair enough." Sesshomaru said. "You won't mind us taking a look around."

"I have nothing to hide. Everything here is legal, I assure you. Do you have a warrant?"

Koga looked down at his tablet, still waiting for it to come through. He shook his head at Sesshomaru.

"It's in progress. If you have nothing to hide, I'm sure you won't need a reason for it?"

"Of course." She said, and waved her hand out the door. "Let me show you around."

She passed them, locking the office door. They followed quietly behind her, monitoring everything around them.

"How long have you worked here?" Koga asked.

"Uh, seven years? I modeled for a bit but that didn't pick up so I started waitressing and worked my way up in this industry."

Koga stared at his tablet getting frustrated. "Whatever happened to Hiten when we all lived back at the loft?"

"He got caught up with his dad's criminal activities, did some time in prison, but went legit after his half-sister came into the picture. They tried to keep their dad's business open, but they were going to lose the business, so they got a silent partner to invest and changed it into a club and called it Halo." She rolled her eyes.

"You guys use chocolate flowers for your drinks?" Koga continued to interrogate. Sesshomaru decided to let him take the lead, his personable skills were a lot better than his.

Kagura looked over her shoulder at them.

"Yeah, we do. We use it for our Velvet Night cocktail, it's a mix of Vanilla vodka, Chambord and Bailey's. The chocolate flower is just a garnish, but it gives the drink a red velvet chocolate cake scent. It's a very popular drink here. We get the flowers shipped from Mexico so we price it at $30 a pop."

"Damn…that's an expensive drink."

"Our clients pay for it." Kagura shrugged then stopped. "Over here is our keg room, nothing to see here but…kegs. Down over here is our prep area."

"Where do you store the chocolate flowers?" Sesshomaru asked.

Kagura paused. "Uh…we keep the flowers locked up in a shed outback, it's kind of not in the blueprints. The health department would shut us down in a heartbeat. It's constantly neglected because the shed is condemned, but we don't have the space to store it anywhere else and because it's muggy inside, it's perfect temperature for the flowers."

"Show us." Sesshomaru said.

Kagura nodded and they followed her out of the building, into an alley. They walked a few yards and stopped in front of the shed. The shed was closed off by a metal gate with a lock. Kagura unlocked it and rolled up the gate.

"Fair warning, it reeks like shit in there." Kagura said, scrunching up her nose. She walked in and turned on a light bulb dangling from its fixture.

Kagura's cellphone rang and she raised her finger to answer. "I have to take this call. I'll be outside if you need me. Hello? Yeah, the money is off from last night, did you close up correctly?"

Koga and Sesshomaru watched her leave out the door and looked at each other. Koga's tablet beeped.

"Awesome, not like we need it but we have the warrant."

"Just show her to cover our grounds when we are done here." Sesshomaru scanned the area.

The floor was filthy, covered in mildew and trash. There were crates stacked on top of each other encasing the chocolate flowers and other plants. Dried up petals were stuck to the floor. There was a dirty dried up water bowl for a dog but who'd keep a dog in the condition of this shed would be deeply questionable. No decent human being or demon would do such a thing.

Sesshomaru treaded carefully around the shed, opening up all his senses, concentrating on every single little detail. Something in the corner of the shed caught his attention. The light from the bulb was not bright enough to illuminate the entire shed so he was able to see light come in from a different source, a small crack in the wall. He walked over to get a closer look, annoyed that he didn't have his phone for a flashlight. Koga left his phone in the car.

"Can you pull up the flashlight from your tablet?" Sesshomaru asked. Koga walked over and turned on the light. "Take some pictures as well."

Sesshomaru squatted down and looked through the crack in the wood. He peeked through the cracks and could see the outside the back of the shed that looked out to the river.

"Go into my mail, I sent the video of Naraku's murder to myself. I want to see it again."

Koga abided his orders and pulled up the email. He opened the file, took a deep breath and hit play. Sesshomaru hadn't seen the video since the first time, so this time he made sure to absorb every single detail.

"It's dark but you can faintly see something on the wall, a sign." He said.

Koga used his fingers to zoom in. "It's just a 'trespassers will be prosecuted.' sign." They were quiet and Koga flinched at the sound of two shots being fired. He looked down at the video to see Naraku getting hit in the head. "Oh my god."

They both looked up from the tablet, and observed the walls, and sure enough, above the crates, there was a white plastic edge peeking from behind. Sesshomaru pushed one of the crates aside and there it was, the same sign.

"Holy shit." Koga whispered, looking to the side at Kagura outside. She was arguing with someone over the phone about money.

"Stay calm." Sesshomaru whispered and crouched back down as he examined the floor around the wall. He noticed a metal slug on the floor and grabbed it. He showed Koga briefly and put it into his chest pocket. "This is where he was killed."

"Shit, shit…so what, do we arrest her? You think she's in on it?"

"It's hard to say, she appeared nervous at first." Sesshomaru mused. "But we aren't going to say anything to her yet. Let's send this out to the lab, I'm positive we are going to get a match."

"She has to know something. No way you manage a place like this and not know what's going on."

"I think I have a good idea what happened. They shot him here, he caught an infection from his surroundings and died, they then dumped his body in the East River behind this shed. It all adds up here. They probably dragged him and these flowers got into his hair. I'm amazed at the odds of it not washing off in the river…"

Koga stared sympathetically at Sesshomaru. "I'm really sorry for-"

"Don't…please." Sesshomaru stopped him. "I just want to put a stop to this. Any luck with the tenant sheet?"

"I have two pages left but no one with any priors or that looks suspicious."

Kagura got off the phone and sighed. "Sorry, one of my bartenders made a mess of the money last night because she got wasted."

Koga continued his search through the tenant sheet as he followed Sesshomaru out of the shed.

"Do you have any dogs on the premises?" Sesshomaru asked.

Kagura cocked a brow. "No, for what?"

"You have a dog bowl in this shed, right there in the corner."

Kagura poke her head in. "Weird, no idea where that came from but then again, I just came back from a really long vacation and still trying to clean the mess they left behind, but that's what happens when you hire a human to manage the place."

"Where did you go?" Sesshomaru asked.

"I had a really bad breakup, I didn't handle it well. I went to stay in Paris with my mother for four months, I just got back three weeks ago. I'm not sure what you guys are looking for, but I can prove I wasn't here."

"Yes, you can send it to this email when you have a chance." Sesshomaru handed her a business card. "The name of this human manager?" Sesshomaru continued to survey the area.

"Shinji, I don't know his last name. We kept him off the books."

"You mentioned that Hiten had a sister."

"A half sister."

"May we have her name, and a place of residence if you have it."

Kagura nodded. "Her name is Yura, she just moved to a new condo a few months ago. Uh…. something sky."

"Skyview?" they both said.

"Yeah," Kagura looked between them.

Koga scrolled down fast and went to the last page. "Well damn…"

He looked at Sesshomaru and tilted the tablet toward him. "Isn't that Kagome's secretary?"

Sesshomaru squinted at the tablet and his gaze dropped to the floor. His heart hammered against his chest, suddenly feeling a dark cloud over him. He looked at his watch, it was almost 2pm.

"Let's go back to the car…now."

They both left Kagura and took quick long strides back to the BMW. Koga raced to his side of the car and grabbed his cell phone.

"Call Kagome now."

"I am."

He started the car and started to drive hastily down the road back to the DDC.

"No answer."

"Keep calling." He ordered. "I never liked that woman. If she is part of Naraku's death then Kagome isn't safe."

"Ok, calm down. Let's…" Koga stopped when an obnoxious alert sounded from his phone and tablet. It was an emergency amber alert.

"What's going on?" Sesshomaru asked.

"They're shutting down the city, the tunnels, airports and bridges. Lord Modo Kai is missing." Koga felt his breath get caught in his throat when another alert came through. He read it and tried to act nonchalant.

"We need to get back to the manor. They're forming an emergency clan meeting."

"Keep trying to get through to Kagome please."

"Yeah…" Koga said, his heart heavy keeping the knowledge from him. That his lovely soul mate and precious daughter is also missing.

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