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From where I was standing—which, admittedly, was a very unhappy and confusing place—it sure looked like this could be an attempt to deliberately create a mass panic about predatory Arcanids. Shifters and vampires, at least.
Raj thanked Bettina Chisolm, got rough descriptions of both the human with the chemical rag and the vampire, and had her give what specifics she could about the van—it was white without logos, making like nearly every other unmarked panel van in the damn city.
We left, thanking her again, and Raj grabbed my elbow.
I let him lead me out onto a little balcony next to the vending machines, presumably for people to take lunch or smoking breaks. There was nobody out there.
I opened my mouth, but he got there first.
“They’reinducingbloodlust,” he hissed.
I was nodding. “And fucking forcing shifters into animal form.”
“This is—” He broke off, searching for the right words.
“Fucked up?”
He rolled his eyes. “I was more going for ‘a deliberate attempt to create an anti-Arcanid panic,’ actually.”
“You think this is connected to MFM?” I asked.
Raj leaned against the railing, crossing his arms over his chest. “I think—I think whoever it is shares the same ideology. I’m not sure even MFM—the main body, anyway—is this fucked up.”
“Raj, they fuckingskinnedshifters.”
He grimaced. “I’m not likely to forget thatsomeoneis skinning shifters.Butthe Oldhams were on the outs with MFM leadership, so it might not be MFM.”
“Wait, what?” This was fucking news to me.
“I was planning to show you Monday,” he answered. “But the Oldhams, both of them, got into a confrontation at a fundraiser in Akron, Ohio about three months ago with MFM’s main leadership, William Rushton and Terrence Hodge. Rushton and Hodge apparently told Jeremiah Oldham that they weren’t going to promote his show any more because it was attracting the wrong kind of people into the organization.”
Well, that was interesting. “I don’t suppose they specified what the fuck that meant?”
“According to Hodge, anyway, the MFM wants to promote the interests of magic-free human beings as the primary citizens of this country.”
I snorted. I couldn’t help it. Raj ignored me.
“Butinsisted that the MFM wasn’t in the business of violence.”
“Eugenics isn’t violence?”
“Not according to Hodge.”
“He tell you this?” I couldn’t imagine Raj talking calmly to the leaders of the MFM.
The tiger shifter’s expression was predatory. “Of course not. We sent in a nice human agent to speak with them. He told Agent Bautista that the MFM wanted to phase magic out of society, not rip it out, and that he understood how people could even feel affection for Arcanids and Arc-humans.”
“Oh, Jesus Christ on a drumstick.”
Raj’s lips twitched. “The point is, Hodge revealed that the MFM pulled its funding fromThe Mundane Fireabout six months ago because they were becoming too radical.”
“You really believe that?”
Raj’s smile was thin. “I believe they need that to be their public stance, and the MFMdidstop funding the show.The Mundane Firehad lost the support of the MFM and the Christian Mothers Against Magic, although they’re still funded by several major private donors. We’ve got some people looking into those donors. But there doesn’t seem to be any indication of either Hodge or Rushton having direct connections to anyone other than the Oldhams on that database.”
“So either they really are that stupid—”
“Or they’re rather willfully ignorant, yes.”
