by Tobi Grim
“So, when did you decide to see if you could find your family?” She kicked her shoes off and tucked her legs under her, hoping they could get back to being comfortable with each other.
“This mornin’. Couldn’t sleep…”
Lupa’s eyes wandered over to him, wondering if… no. Never mind. “Cool. Salbatici families aren’t… exactly the easiest people to find, has Hammer looked into it at all?”
“Thinkin’ so. Only been a day… aint sure if he findin’ anythin’ yet. Hasn’t told me if he has… what he sayin’ to you? This be what you owe?” He sounded bitter. Shit.
“No, he just asked if I would… you know that it’ll be a long ass drive, yeah? We will probably have to find somewhere to stay…”
“I knowin’. That’s why I lettin’ you have an outs, if’n you want… I likin’ you to come, but I aint pressurin’ you none.”
Lupa finished her drink and filled both their glasses again. She was heading for drunk town. Not long now, maybe that would help the awkwardness creeping around inside her? Or it could just make her… she didn’t care.
“You aren’t. I’m happy to come along. As I said, I want you around. I don’t… I don’t want to lose this… friendship. You’re like me. There’s no one else like me. Except you. And that’s… pretty fucking cool, you know? I am happy to help. If you want to know, I’m happy to come along. Trust me, I wouldn’t say this shit if I didn’t mean it. You… you opened up to me, I aint gonna… I am keeping your secret, isn’t that enough proof?” Lupa was rambling, she was drunk. Sledge hadn’t even hinted at the idea he couldn’t trust her, and here she was fucking dribbling. Dammit.
“Aint thinkin’ that, Lupa, I aint sayin’ that. I just… aint wantin’ you to feel obligated or nothin’. Just cos you owe Hammer, and all that…”
He drained his drink and she did the same, pouring them both another. She should probably stop drinking, but she wasn’t going to. She felt good.
“Well… that’s not why I’m doing it. It’s important to you, and… I started it. I gave you the information, so I’m going to help you. Deal with it.” She stuck her tongue out at him, feeling stupid and funny at the same time.
He gave her a smile, a real smile, and downed his drink. “Thinkin’ if I gonna be as funny as you I might’n need to catch up.”
“Think you might have to!”
She put straight vodka in his cup and waited for him to shoot it. He did, with a funny smile on his face. She laughed as he winced and put the cup back down, letting her pour him another one.
“I’m on a case at the moment,” she said, wanting to talk about… something, “but Hammer said we go this weekend?”
Sledge nodded, taking the next shot and putting his glass down with a slam. “A’right. It gonna interfere with your case?”
Lupa poured him another drink, letting him have OJ this time. “I don’t know. Doesn’t matter though, I’ve said I would. I’m sure Dam-Hawk won't mind… actually, that’s probably bullshit, he will mind. But fuck him.” She finished off her drink as Sledge smiled at her, amused.
“Thinkin’ you might change your mind about that one in the mornin’.”
Lupa shook her head, waiting for him to finish his drink, then poured them both another one. “Aint thinkin’ so, Lio Lio, cos you being my main-” She coughed. Shit, maybe she should stop drinking… she looked over at him quickly, but he appeared to be ignoring what she had almost said. “I! Will be there, and I won't care!” she half shouted, hoping that it was enough.
“Ok, witchy girl, I believin’ ya. Don’t spill your drink on your new couch, ey?”
“You need more to drink.”
What the fuck was wrong with her, did she really almost say Sledge was more important to her than Dameon? Or was that just the crazy drunk thoughts running through her head? Must be. No one man was that important to her, that was just…. Whatever. Stupid drunk mouth.
Sledge took the bottle out of her hand gently, lifting it and taking a long drink. “There. Thinkin’ that oughta catch me up.”
She smiled. Good. “So, Mr Jaxson… or was you named after you mother? Mr Hellion?” Whoops. Not the right thing to say. Anger washed over his face then he regained control and looked at her.
“Aint likin’ Jaxson, but aint knowin’ what name I had. Never havin’ no birth certificate. Just… is who I is.”
“Ok, Mr Sledge then. Tell me something! Show me… what was your first tattoo? And why did you get it?”
Sledge laughed, “Only if’n you tellin’ me yours.”
“Done!”
“Ok,” he lifted up his shirt, Lupa ignored the warm feeling brushing over her body, “Gettin’ this shitty wolf head when I was fifteen. Thinkin’ it made me look tough. Hammer gave me a whack on the head when he seein’, sayin’ if I wanted a good tattoo I needin’ to tell him next time. Aint just goin’ to any old place.” He laughed looking up at her, she tried to focus on the tattoo and not… “What’s yours?”
Lupa blushed. Whoops. Probably shouldn’t have agreed to that one. But she had had enough to drink now, so she wasn’t embarrassed. She lifted her dress up as she stood, pulling her underwear on her hip down.
“Got this star done when I was thirteen. Snuck out to get it, didn’t want Slasher to find out… I thought I was pretty damn cool. Didn’t really mean anything, I just wanted to get a tattoo… probably just because I knew Slasher would flip if she found out.”
Sledge looked up at her, she knew she should drop her dress, she knew… shit. No. She let it go. She wasn’t going to do this, not after they seemed to be ok now. She sat back down with a thud, throwing the rest of her drink back. Sledge did the same and leaned back, lighting a smoke with an odd smile on his face.
“So you always been a bit like that then, eh?”
“Like what?” Lupa raised an eyebrow.
“Likin’ to go against your authority.”
“It wasn’t like that,” Lupa laughed, damn she felt drunk, “it was just typical rebellious teenage behaviour.”
“Like havin’ me over when you knowin’ Slasher aint want me here?” Sledge gave her a grin, knowing he had her there.
“Yeah, yeah,” she flapped her hand at him, taking a swig from her drink, “but I aint a teenager no more, so there aint nothing anyone can say.”
“If’n you say so, witchy girl,” Sledge winked, giving her a wide grin.
✽ ✽ ✽
“You went to Hammer’s? Shit, has he still not told you what you owe him?”
Dameon sat in her nice clean apartment, looking around and rubbing the fabric of the new couch. She’d told him everything Hammer had said. Well… almost everything. She couldn’t say how he knew about the blood magick exactly. And she was still deciding whether or not to tell him about going away for the weekend with Sledge.
“He’s told me some… I need to go away for the weekend… with Sledge…”
Dameon’s eyes snapped to hers. His body went rigid and his face blank. “Yeah?”
“Don’t worry, it’s not… drug related or anything… hey, wanna come down to the laundromat and continue this? I have nothing to wear…”
Dameon nodded curtly and she grabbed the dirty washing basket and headed for the door, Dameon opening it for her and running down the stairs to open the next one. “So what exactly is it related to then?”
“Sledge needs to go see… his family or some shit. Hammer wants me to go along because he thinks there might be witches there…”
Dameon nodded. He appeared unhappy about it, but he also seemed like he believed her. She felt like shit for lying to him again, but she couldn’t exactly tell him the whole truth… last night had been nice, she had managed to avoid any more awkwardness with Sledge… She couldn’t tell him that either…
“Alright. I want you to keep in touch though, I aint like it… but ok.”
“Of course, I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
They walked into the laundromat and Lupa stuffed h
er clothes into the massive washing machine, pulling some change out of the bottom of her bag to put into it. “So blood magick is sounding pretty brutal from what Hammer seems to think. Did you find much in the library?” They both sat down and lit a smoke.
“Not that much, actually. I must have gone through fifty fucking books, and there was nothing on the computers. I could only find things that blood is used in magick, and if Hammer is right in what he’s telling you, that’s a very fucking different thing. I don’t know why The Organization doesn’t at least have a record for it though… or maybe I just don’t have high enough access… how does he even know all this shit? Never mind, he seems like the kinda guy who wants to know everything… and I guess he is slightly magickal…”
Lupa nodded, ignoring the bit about Hammer. Very possible on the access point. Different job status meant different authorization. “So…. We hope someone isn’t using blood magick then?”
Dameon laughed, “I fucking guess so. A wolfblood sounds much more appealing than dealing with witches who are using that shit. But then, why the fuck would a wolfblood be draining cows of blood? As far as I know, wolfbloods aint into that sorta shit, y’know?”
“Yeah, I know… I’ve never met a wolfblood who can contain their urges… and it will be a lot harder to deal with rouge witches… might be harder to find them too… and if blood magick can control people, who’s to say one or more of the people we talked to aren’t already under someone’s control? Ah shit, why’d we take the interesting one again?”
Dameon grinned at her, “Because we are too stupid to know when to not take the interesting path?”
Lupa laughed too. Yeah maybe. After all, life had been throwing her a lot of ‘interesting’ things lately. Who was she to complain? It beat being bored. It beat sitting in her apartment alone thinking about Karl…or Sledge… or the blood and guts….
✽ ✽ ✽
Lupa and Dameon headed out to Blackmoars again. But this time Lupa had let Dameon do the driving. She sat in the passenger seat of his van, smoking and looking out the window. It was only Wednesday, still two full days before she went away with Sledge to look for his family. She hoped that Hammer would have a bit more information for them by then… she hoped her and Dameon could find out what was going on before then, she didn’t like the idea of leaving their case open ended while she went away…
“Ok, so I say we go to this new families place first, they are up near the hill, then work our way back. What do you think?”
Lupa sighed, they had a hell of a lot of people to talk to, and she could feel exhaustion filling her before they had even spoken to a single person. “Yeah, sounds good.”
They drove the rest of the way in silence. A nice comfortable silence. A silence that they would most likely hang onto and miss desperately after the onslaught of people that they had to deal with. Lupa wasn’t sure exactly how many farms there were… nor how many people in each… she rubbed her head, best not to think about it right now.
Two hours later, they reached the house at the foot of the hill. It was nicer than the others, even nicer than Mr Jay’s place. Dameon pulled the van in front of the house and gave Lupa a smile as they got out. Right. Their day was really beginning now.
As they walked up the steps to the big front porch, Lupa was sure she could sense magick…or could she smell it? She glanced at Dameon. “Feel that?”
Dameon looked around and shook his head. Shit. Maybe she could just smell it… could she smell blood? Or was she just being paranoid…. She took a step closer to Dameon, close enough for their arms to touch, hoping he’d know what she was doing as she knocked on the door. She closed her eyes and felt for him in her mind. He placed his hand on her shoulder gently and they waited.
Got me?
Sure do, Little Red.
Good. They had managed to partially bond so that they could communicate in their minds, just as the door was opening too. An ugly woman with short brown hair and beady black eyes opened the door, giving them what Lupa guessed was supposed to be a friendly smile, but it made Lupa’s skin crawl.
“Hello, I’m Little Red, and this is my Protector, Hawk, we are from The Organization. We are investigating the wolfblood sightings and the dead cows…”
“Oh, of course, what a tragedy for such a place. Do come in, I’m Emma Corpore. Come in, we can go sit down inside. Much more comfortable.”
The woman opened the door for them, Lupa peered around as they stepped through. The house was furnished with real wood cabinets, which had beautiful crystal items on display. The lounge room that Emma led them to had beautiful rose embroidered couches, a long wood and glass coffee table, with three magazines about high end houses laying on top of it. They looked very deliberately placed. Not something you would see this far from Central, let alone out here…
Lupa and Dameon sat on one of the couches while the woman sat on the one across from them. Lupa wondered if it was blood she could smell… or was she imagining it? Shit. They were farmers, would blood really be an unusual smell in a house where they probably killed their own animals, gutted them… Lupa’s stomach knotted slightly. Right. Best not to fucking think about it.
“It is such a shame to hear about people losing their livestock, I suppose you’ll be interviewing everyone in Blackmoars?”
“Yes, it seems we will be. Unless we find who the wolfblood is before we have questioned everyone... Mrs… Corpore?”
“Yes, you can just call me Emma if you like. Um, shall I get my husband for this? And my children? They aren’t far away, it will only take me a moment…”
Lupa glanced over at Dameon. Probably better to get them all out the way in one hit. “If you could, that would make things much easier for us, thank you.”
The woman got up and left the room quickly, Lupa pulled her notebook out and tapped her pen on it. Shit, she felt so uneasy in this place… was it just the fancy furniture? The obvious signs of wealth in such a poor area?
I don’t like this woman…
Because you have to talk to her, or something else?
Lupa smiled to herself and gave Dameon a withering look. Yes, she didn’t want to talk to her, or any of the houses… but it was something more… After five or so minutes, Emma returned with a pot of tea and cups on a tray, placing it down and serving them a cup without asking. Dameon started forward to grab a teacup.
Don’t drink anything, Hawk, or eat anything… I don’t trust them…
Fuck. Ok.
He leaned down and checked the laces on his boots. Fucking subtle. But then, they didn’t want to give anything at all away if… And what else was he supposed to do?
“My husband is coming and ah! These are my daughters; Madison, Layla and Sadie.”
The woman stood proudly next to her daughters. Madison and Layla were identical twins appearing to be around fourteen. Both with limp brown hair, the same beady eyes as their mother and tall like her too. Neither of them met her or Dameon’s eyes. But Sadie was completely different, she had curly blonde hair, a beautiful oval face and wide blue eyes. Lupa guessed she was about sixteen. The girl looked at them hard, with her eyebrows raised. Fucking snob.
“Hello, I’m Little Red, and this is Hawk.”
“Wonderful!” A big voice boomed, Lupa turned to see a big, red faced man enter, “I’m Ben, my wife told me you are here from The Organization.”
“Yes, sir.”
Lupa did like this man, his smile was friendly and warm, his long blonde hair hung free, and Lupa could see where Sadie got the big blue eyes from… he looked like a gentle giant. Not that looks meant anything really…
All the Corpore’s sat down across from them and waited. Lupa cleared her throat and took the lid off her pen ready to write. “Ok, so we are just asking about whether anything strange has been noted by anyone, and whether they can give us any other information that you might not have thought was important, but could assist us…”
“Are you having to go to everyone’s house
s?” Ben asked, picking his tea cup up and draining it in one mouthful.
“Unfortunately for us, yes.”
“Would it be easier if we asked everyone to give us a statement and we could hand it onto you?”
Lupa hesitated. Yes. It would be easier… but then, what if these people were involved? Wouldn’t they hide anything that could give them away? And hadn’t they only been there six months? What made them so friendly with everyone that they should be the ones to ask? Surely Daniel Jay would want that job… he seemed like the type…
“That would actually be really helpful, Mr Corpore. We would still need to eventually talk to everyone, especially if there is a wolfblood around, we can’t sense their bloodline from a written note unfortunately.” She smiled at him to try and show she was confident in him. Yes, that smile was a lie, but Ben beamed back at her.
“Very well, I will organise that. Then perhaps I could organise a town dinner here, and you two could come and see if you can… sense anything?”
Well, this guy did have an answer for everything… that would really make their day a lot shorter. Lupa liked the idea, quickly looking over at Dameon who was nodding and reaching for the tea…
Don’t fucking drink that!
He pulled his hand away quickly. Lupa noticed that Emma and the twins gave him a suspicious look. Sadie was too busy staring at the wall, like this was the most boring thing in the world. Well, it probably was to a teenager.
“Ok, well while I have you all here, what can you tell me?”
Ben spoke for twenty minutes. But he didn’t have any more information than what the farmers had told them. Emma didn’t seem to have anything interesting to add either, just reiterated what her husband had said. Neither of the twins really had anything much to add, just that they were scared of being victims, their voices sounded like squeaky toys and grated on Lupa’s nerves. She was certain if these girls did become victims, it would probably be just to shut them up rather than… shit. Not the way to be thinking. Lupa waited to see if Sadie had anything to add. The girl sighed and twirled her hair.