Let Them Eat Cake by Ravyn Wilde

site, but we do have a jaw with a couple of teeth, and hope to be able to match a missing person with dental work.”
    Ugh, Justin thought. How sad to have nothing left to identify your remains but a piece of jawbone. He turned to see Maria blanch at Marcus’ stark description.
    “Maria was correct in stating that almost all blood, bone marrow and flesh, including internal organs, were consumed at the site. I don’t have any way to guess on this one, folks. No material left under fingernails. Hell…I don’t have fingernails to look under. I am completely in the dark. I can tell you I’ll do anything in my power to assist in providing information to capture whatever this is. I don’t want to be looking at more bodies like this one.” And Marcus turned and walked matter-of-factly back to his seat.
    “Well, okay then,” Maria said. “Now I would like to introduce Justin to the Council.”
    While Maria introduced him, Justin looked at his father, who shook his head. They’d shared their thoughts this afternoon on the little information gleaned from the alley. Bill wanted Justin to handle everything tonight. He was happy to turn over his responsibilities within the Council.
    Before Justin got the chance to speak, a voice came from the audience. “What about running our human background check? Has he been cleared to your specifications?”
    Maria paused, the anger at herself burning hot and immediate. She’d let her hormones take over and neglected to fulfill one of her own requirements. She resisted the urge to slap herself on the forehead in disgust. Years ago, she laid down laws refusing to let paranormals bring their humans to Council meetings without them having undergone an information security scan and a memory search by one of the vampires. Namely her. Those rules were in place for a reason, and yet she’d let them slide for mind-blowing sex. Great! How the hell did she explain this?
    Brian interjected, “He passed the security screening.”
    Justin raised his eyebrows at his pronouncement. How much could they have learned when almost all his information was marked classified? It made him a little mad. He didn’t want anyone going into his past without his consent.
    Luke headed for Justin. “And because Maria is sponsoring Justin, I will be doing the memory search. There will be no question of his clearance.”
    Oh, shit! Maria thought. The unfortunate reflection crossed her mind that Luke was probably right, but it didn’t mean she had to like it.
    Justin’s face set in anger. He readied himself to tear into Luke when the man reached him and raised his hands. “Give me a second here,” he said quietly. “If what I am thinking is true, the entity we are dealing with is beyond human or today’s paranormal comprehension. Justin, Maria trusts you, and in order for the rest of this group to accept you, in order for me to accept you, you must submit to this memory search. It is painless, and I promise to keep anything I learn to myself. I won’t be staying in this region when we are done. Would you rather have one of the vamps who live here share your memories?” he asked.
    Maria came up to stand beside him. “Justin, I’m sorry. I didn’t think or we would have discussed this. As irritating as Luke is, he is right. I can’t do this and maintain my own rules. Luke can be a bastard, but if he promises to keep your life secrets to himself, he will. I promise you.”
    “I don’t like people looking into my past, Maria.”
    She laughed low, leaned into him and whispered huskily, “May I remind you about our discussion earlier and your trip to the library? How is that different?”
    Justin let out a breath. She was right. “Fine. Tell me what you need me to do.” It didn’t seem he had a choice in the matter.
    “You only need to sit in the small room for a moment. The process won’t take very long and you will feel no pain. I will touch your mind and it will be done,” Luke replied.
    He nodded