“Less than half…”
“Keep it someplace… safe.”
I ended the call and hoped that Lexi was still alive and safe somewhere out there. If so, I had a nice present waiting for her thanks to Jim’s efforts. A present I’m giving to her because I want to, not because I’m charmed. I could have told Jim on the phone to burn it all, and at one point that thought crossed my mind. A charmed person wouldn’t dare to think and consider such thoughts in my position, right?
… Right?
Epilogue
I like how the news over the last three weeks downplayed everything. The quake? A result of over industrialization in the region, the attacks at the hospital and Lexi’s place? A new terrorist group that was shut down as quickly as it sprung to action. It was all a cover-up, just like the memorial service held for Lexi, one of several victims of the terrorist attack.
The news didn’t mention my awesome skills at play, slaying the demon lord Lucifer or the demon cat girl that took a dagger in the gut to save me. She made a full recovery by the way, utilizing self-healing talents to make a quick recovery overnight, just like I did. Days after the hospital fiasco, we confirmed that members of Lucifer’s faction were still at large, smaller numbers with a few lesser demons within their ranks, hella disorganized, but alive.
Jim was kind enough to lend me another one of his safe houses in the city to stay in until I got a new place, if I got a new place. I doubt Mario would give me my job back at the pizza place and honestly, my résumé and recent achievements in life, didn’t qualify me to do anything else.
Gabe gave me a call early in the morning, asking me to meet him at the precinct, and assured me that nobody was going to haul me away for questioning or detain me. I did after all kill a whole lot of people over the last little while. I was guided to his desk as I entered the precinct, his eyes were glued to his computer screen, while he held onto the mug of fresh coffee. I pulled up a seat next to him… that’s a lie; I parked my ass right on top of his desk, shifting his computer mouse off its pad.
He looked up at me, frowning. “Glad you could make it.”
I smiled and crossed my arms and legs. “I’m shocked nobody wants to throw me in the slammer.”
“You’re no longer a suspect, Reika.”
“Oh?”
“After the shit show at the hospital… well, let’s just say the demonic world isn’t that much of a secret anymore.”
“News says otherwise.”
“And we’d like to keep it that way.”
“Ah more cover-ups.”
“Think about how much harder our jobs will be if the public learns of this? People will host witch hunts, get themselves killed, or others, because they think people might be possessed but aren’t.”
“Sucks to be you.”
“We’re experimenting with the idea of a new task force, one that will investigate all paranormal activity within the city.” He took a sip of his coffee in a bad attempt at making a dramatic pause. “I volunteered to be a part of it.” I laughed right at him. “What’s so funny?”
“Are you sure your past didn’t have anything to do with it? Schubert spat out a lot of shit during that ritual about you.”
“All the more reason why this task force needs to get off the ground,” he said. “Can’t have cults executing people they think are allied with another faction, bad enough Lucifer’s faction was able to acquire high-powered weapons without anyone realizing it.”
“Let’s cut the bullshit, I saw that enchanted hand cannon you were packing.” Gabe shot me a discrete smile. “You know more about this shit than the average human. That’s why you reached out to me… you knew something was up, you knew Schubert was involved.”
“Anyways, the reason why I asked you here—”
“And Lexi… you knew about her too?”
“All I know is that Lexi Hartridge has been MIA since the attack at her condo and presumed dead. But as I was saying.”
“You want me to join your cool cops club, huh?”
“You’d be a valuable informant and specialist.”
“I ain’t a cop.”
“But we’ll appreciate any leads you could fish up for us and help with matters we don’t have the power to deal with.”
I got off his desk and made a wince at him. “Let me think about it.”
I turned around and went to the exit. I’d had a craving for some sushi all day. “Oh, by the way,” he called out, stopping me in my tracks. “We managed to have the contaminated blood moved out of the hospital and destroyed but…”
I turned to face him. “But?”
“I feel as though there was more in the storage area when we first discovered it.” He waved me back to his desk and showed me a photo taken during their investigation in the aftermath of the attack. “Does that look like the right amount to you?”
I licked my lips and smiled warmly. “I see nothing wrong here.” I attempted to take my leave once again, and then stopped again, and approached Gabe once more. Sushi ain’t cheap; I’d rather not have to tap into my savings account to pay for it. “Do I get paid if I work with you guys as your paranormal-demon-slaying-expert-thingy?”
Gabe grinned. “I’ll pull some strings and do what I can.”
“Where do I sign up?”
I returned to the safe house Jim lent me later that day when a light bulb appeared above my head. Cops are forming a paranormal team, one that probably won’t be adequately staffed for a while, meaning there’s going to be a lot of cases they won’t have time to look into. In the normal world, you got the police and then you got private investigators that do stuff the cops can’t be bothered with. My gut told me demonic activity was going to be a regular occurring thing from here on in, and this paranormal investigation team? There’s going to be cases they won’t follow up on.
I sat down with one of Jim’s laptops, and began designing business cards while drawing up plans to register a new business in a new growing market.
I think I’ll call it, Araya Paranormal Investigations.
Too cheesy?
Demonic summoning, the Russian Mafia going nuts, and victims of a hungry succubus washing up on the beach. For most people, that’s a scary thing to deal with. For Reika? It’s just another Tuesday.
Wrath of the Demon Girl coming soon. Subscribe to the newsletter here to be notified of its release, and other books.
Afterword
Hey all I hoped you enjoyed the read as this is my first jump into the Urban Fantasy genre. This story in some way was a long time coming. I originally came up with the idea and the character Reika back when I was in high school… many, many years ago… I was a fan of survival horror video games which in turn gave me the idea for this story, though I never finished it. I ended up forgetting about it until a year ago when I was midway through working on the Splintered Galaxy series.
Those that read those books know that despite it being science fiction there are a lot of fantasy elements to it, especially with The Siege of Sirius. In fact, one chapter in that book had to be completely rewritten because it veered too far off into the realm of fantasy. In addition, there were several story ideas that I ended up not using for Splintered Galaxy, though I kept my notes for those around in case I wanted to resurrect them. Most of those rejected ideas I felt were too fantasy and less science fiction. That’s when I realized… I had a burning desire to write fantasy too!
So, the idea to work on an Urban Fantasy book came to my head. That’s when I remembered the old story I wrote back in high school. From there I rewrote it, added in a few rejected Splintered Galaxy ideas, and then added my own twist on it. I was quite pleased with the results. How about you? Like it? Hate it? Please leave a review!
About the Author
Eddie R. Hicks is a Canadian author known as a man of many talents, and for good reason. He’s educated in media arts, journalism, and culinary arts, and now he writes dark and sexy science-fiction thrillers such as the Splintered Galaxy series.
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