It was the following evening and Yamato disposed of the dead rat carefully in the hazardous materials waste at the morgue. The report had just come back on the cause of death. He hadn't marked down on the sample that the blood wasn't human, so the lab tested it for the regular drug-related causes of death, and the report indicated fentanyl —enough to kill an elephant.

He took the file with the lab results and tucked them into his suitcase, and clicked it shut. He had a non-work-related meeting in thirty minutes, and he was going to be cutting it close.

When he arrived at Artemis, and Luna's apartment, Hatori and Shingo were already there too. "I waited to get the results before I headed over. Sorry, I'm late."

Luna shrugged, "The report is important for this meeting. Oh! And the cookies just came out of the oven. Once they cool a bit, we'll eat them."

Artemis walked over and held Luna from behind, resting his hands on her stomach. He kissed her temple and said, "They smell delicious. But if you keep cooking like this, I'm going to gain more weight than you do carrying our precious child."

She smiled and looked up at him. "Ah. You figured out my devious plan already. I don't want to be the only one looking as big as a house."

He laughed. "Carrying a child isn't 'gaining weight.' It's protecting and nurturing a baby."

Hatori, along with the others, were smiling at the couple. He and Yamato hadn't ever been married, but they knew Artemis was gaining major points right now. Even better, he believed Artemis meant every word.

Shingo got a wistful look in his eyes. "I remember when your grandmother was pregnant with your father," he said to Hatori. "I was so excited." He instantly regretted mentioning his first wife since she had died so young that her son didn't remember her. He didn't want to upset Luna. He knew realistically she wasn't in danger, she had Usagi protecting her, but hormones could wreak havoc on anyone.

Yamato caught Shingo's nervousness and jumped into what they were meeting about. "That one rat had enough fentanyl in its blood to kill an elephant." He pulled out the file on the bloodwork and dropped it on the table. "And you said you saw dozens of rats."

"The dose wouldn't be that big," Hatori stated. "It's too damn easy to overdose on that."

"But it costs money," Yamato pressed. "How many bodies am I going to have in the morgue if they can waste that much? I'm assuming the rats ate up what was dropped. Otherwise, why kill them with such a huge dose?"

Artemis released Luna and grabbed up the file. He then started flipping through it and frowning. "A lot if they are this careless with their drug supply. Normally dealers don't want to kill their customers though. The goal is to make money."

Luna sat down and said to Artemis, "You noticed something else."

"I don't want to. But yeah. I think Beryl has somehow gotten the Dark Kingdom and the Terras to work together. I just can't for the life of me figure out how. With that many killings between them, the blood feud should prevent that from being possible. I know she made zombie things, but they can't believe that they can get their comrades back like that. Not in any way that matters. I can't think of what else she could offer them to quell their anger."

Luna shot up from her seat in a panic. "Oh, shit! What if she didn't? What if she doesn't need to get them to stop hating each other!? If she can make men kill the women they love, why can't she make people not kill each other?"

Shingo wrote down the address of the building where he followed the yakuza member to and found the rats. He then handed it to Luna. "I am curious what you can find out about who rents that building quickly. This could get very bad."

Matoki knew he was acting ridiculous. The counter at the arcade had never been cleaner, and there he was, wiping it down yet again. He couldn't help himself. Reika was there, and he was using any excuse he had to stay by her. Even her coffee cup had never gotten below a quarter down.

She fidgeted, he noticed she had been doing that with increased frequency, and this time she let her shoulders droop. She looked around furtively and then whispered to him, "What if I get possessed again? I couldn't sleep last night worrying about it."

He set down his towel and leaned on one elbow. "Your father was at his limit yesterday. Don't get me wrong, no one blames him, but he couldn't handle anyone doing one more bit of magic to you."

"Are you saying if he could have handled it, Rei could have done something?"

"No," he said, shaking his head. "I'm saying he couldn't handle knowing about it." He gave her a goofy smile and added, "It's why Rei did it without him knowing. After all, it was to protect you. You can't be possessed by any means again."

Tears rushed to her eyes, "I'm so relieved! I don't ever want to go through anything remotely like that again." She leaned forward and whispered again. "That spirit tried to get me to kill my mother."

Motoki took a chance and brushed his fingertips lightly over her hand that rested on the counter. "And you fought back. You should be proud, not scared."

"I pictured doing it. It was so awful."

"And it failed. Rei said that spirit was over six hundred years old and had possessed people before. She discovered that it possessed people and fought in every major Zulu battle. Then during the Boer War, a witch doctor bound it away in a silver urn. It remained there until you were possessed."

"Wars?"

"Yes. It killed countless people."

She frowned down at her coffee cup. "I'm not strong. I just did what I had to do. My mother was protecting me and I owed her at least to work to preserve her life. You should see the bruises I left on her. She didn't get out unscathed."

"You're being foolish," he admonished. "She was there to help her daughter and she succeeded. Don't take away from her accomplishment by beating yourself up over it. Without her there would you have been able to hold on?"

"No," she admitted.

"Then your mother saved you. What more can a parent want than to protect and preserve their child?"

Reika cocked her head and got a thoughtful look on her face. "You have a point. I hadn't thought of it like that. I just… I didn't want to hurt her, though."

Motoki scoffed, "That wasn't you. You did everything in your power to protect her from the spirit that was inside of you."