by brett hicks
The light-coco skinned girl with pink hair answered the door. Her brown eyes deep, inviting. She blinked a few times, flicking her lashes. Lyra Johnson hardly seemed an apex shifter right this moment. To Sam, she was just a delicate, attractive young woman. She had deeply soulful eyes that pulled on his heart-strings.
She smiled with a lazy grin, very cattish, as were a lot of her mannerisms. He could never tell if she was flirtatious, or if this was a cat shifter behavior. She stared at him, staring at her.
“We could do this all day, or you can come in. We’ll have some subs and chili-cheese fries delivered in a few hours. I took the liberty of ordering for you. I hope that’s ok?”
She flicked her lashes again. She was stunning, perfect. She was comfortable with her sexuality. As was befitting a woman who performed on stage for a living. Sam had crept into the back of a few of her concerts. Lyra didn’t see him, but he was transfixed watching her. He remembered telling himself, “If only she was human.”
He cleared his throat, and with it, his mind.
“Yeah, thank you Miss Johnson.”
Sam brushed past her, feeling his stomach go into knots. He hadn’t felt such a raw attraction to a woman since his ex-wife, when they were younger, before she decided to trade up for a jack-hole of a lawyer.
He noted that Ellison Jameson was still there. He was generally banned from all shifter packlands. So, for Lyra to have so closely formed ties with Jameson, this was unheard of. This also spoke to how serious this threat was. Lyra and Ellison allowed Sam to leave with some watered-down details of the information they had discovered about ghouls. He didn’t understand the intricacies, only that whatever that book was they were reading from, was a life and death secret. Sam was a cop, so he understood how valuable information could be. Having as much as he did now, was bringing him leaps and bounds closer to figuring out what really happened to his parents, and his twin sister all those years ago.
Sam walked through the living room. He spotted Melony and Rachelle huddled around their mysterious book of supernatural secrets. Ellison was eyeing them, pretending to read. He seemed to be basking in the nearness of a contented family, or so it appeared to Sam. He had never thought that vampires were capable of such humanity, especially the head vampire.
This week had been full of twists, and revelations for him. He didn’t want to believe the vampires at first, but they heaped fact, after fact onto the pile. They even had detailed depictions of ghouls, they were spot-on with what he saw the night his family was butchered.
“Ladies, Ellison.”
He said by way of greeting. Melony twisted in her chair and beamed a smile at him. He felt his heart swell a size or two. Not in a sexual way, more like he was touched by her true and genuine emotion. He had made her life hell, yet she was so pure of heart, she had already forgiven him. Granted he lost a little blood in that forgiveness. Still, it was a small price to pay.
“Morning Detective, I hope you brought the information we requested?”
Rachelle arched a perfect brow at him in expectation. Her eyes spoke a different story. She was still upset with him, and he would be in her proverbial dog-house for a while to come.
Sam nodded, and he handed her a large stack of folders he had tucked under his arm. She carefully began to spread the papers out along the table. Suddenly, all four supernaturals were picking through the crime-scenes with an avidness he seldom saw in other detectives. He wasn’t surprised about the Jameson’s savviness, but Melony showed the most surprising gift of deduction of all of them.
Sam could hardly believe how she walked into that scene and shattered all his perceptions about the case in less than thirty-seconds. She had pieces, fragments, of facts, yet she had seen how the broken pieces fit together. That couldn’t be taught! Many cops would spend their entire lifetime struggling to develop all the deductive skills, just to keep pace with the criminals.
Melony was like a half-Japanese female Sherlock. She was far more intelligent and perceptive of intricate details, than Sam had ever imagined possible. Add to that her genetic ability to recall everything she ever sees, and you have the perfect detective in the making. It sure would make for a nice novel.
The succubus detective!
Sam mused to himself. He was watching the girl lay out the scenes, she seemed to be intent on something.
Melony pointed to the victims of two of the other cases.
“See, these are all arranged just-so. This is exactly like the positioning at the scene I was at. I mean, exact same spot on the couch too. This must be the same person, or persons. I mean, from what I remember of the bite wounds, there were at least four different radiuses.
Ellison beamed a smile at him and pointed his index finger at Melony.
“It’s hard to believe she’s this good huh?”
Sam narrowed his eyes at the master vampire.
“You’re not crawling through my head, are you?”
Ellison gave him a faux-hurt look.
“Me? Nah, I leave the mind intrusions to my little sister. She was the one trained by the greatest mind reader of all times.”
Rachelle snorted in amusement, clearly Ellison was lying through his teeth.
“He didn’t really have to read your mind. It’s clear on your face. I’m not as good at the whole psychic thing, but even I could figure the line of your thoughts.”
Lyra came to stand next to him. She hitched a thumb towards the fridge.
“Sweet tea? We have ice-cold lemonade too.”
“Because we’re real southern belles in here.”
He turned around, the small Chinese alpha she-wolf sauntered into the kitchen. She must have finished her eighties video torture for the day. Sam could live his whole life, and he would never forget those two immortals pulling up chairs and watching The Princess Bride right in front of his cell.
Sam would remember that, even if he forgot his own name.
“Thank you, a sweet tea would be great.”
He looked back to Lyra. She beamed a playful smile his way.
Is she flirting, or is she just trying to be friendly?
He couldn’t help but wonder. One did not want to mix signals up when dealing with an apex. He had seen her angry, and she had manhandled him. He didn’t for one second, forget who the top-dog was in this house—or cat in her case.
His eyes followed her slime but shapely belle curves as she sauntered to the fridge. She was beyond the realm of beautiful. She was extremely stunning, mind-blowing even. That was also considering that she was standing in a room with a succubus, a master vampire, and an alpha she-wolf. Still, his eyes followed her form, even if his brain tried to protest!
He noted the sniggers from Jaden. She had caught his eyes tracking Lyra. Sam quickly looked away, pretending to study the documents over Melony’s shoulder. He had been at every scene, and he knew every word on every page by heart.
Lyra came back, smiling still. She handed him a large clean glass of tea. He remembered the massive pitcher Melony had given him when they had him locked up. He wanted to laugh. That girl fed him steak, and potatoes, and gave him sweet tea. He should have left her alone, not drag her into that hell-hole. Sam had talked to a few friends, they confirmed all of Melony’s claims about the abuse in the prison. He felt guilty, and deeply ashamed of himself.
Even after everything, Melony had still agreed to help. She had brought in two of the largest power-players in the supernatural community too. How could he have been so wrong about the very nature of an entire sub-species?
Hatred…
He took a sip of the tea. It was super sweet, like you will only find below the Mason-Dixon Line.
Ellison looked to be scanning the pages of the documents, but his eyes wandered quickly. Sam’s brain seemed to burst with realization.
“You’ve already seen these files, haven’t you?!”
He pointed an accusing finger at Ellison. To his credit, Ellison didn’t try to deny the charge, but he also di
dn’t convict himself with confirming it either! Damn slippery vampires! Rachelle rolled her eyes, and she lightly patted his hand.
“Welcome to the wide world of Ellison Jameson. The land of information, and the home of the sneaky.”
Ellison beamed at his sister.
“She’s such a flatterer my sister.”
Rachelle chuckled and gave him a middle finger in response. These beings were nothing like they made themselves appear on television! This truth shouldn’t shock him to his bones, yet it did! They were not soulless beasts, they were…normal….
Melony seemed to ignore the antics, focused like a laser, trained on her work. He had seen her deep empathy several times now. Her strong emotional reactions to the suffering of others. Even before she was out of the prison herself, she was swearing to free the other girl she was talking to. He had never met another succubus, but from what he had observed of them, they were ruthless. Melony was a stark contrast to an entire species.
Even the other supernaturals didn’t try to defend the succubi. They left them the hell alone, unless they really needed something!
“Ok, we’re going to try to find some patterns in how they’re selecting victims before our damn subs arrive. Let’s get cracking people, kitties’ gotta eat!”
Lyra sounded as sassy as ever. She caught a glimpse of Sam’s smile. Sam looked back to the papers, pretending to be engrossed in whatever Melony was currently reading.
This is going to be a long day!
He thought to himself, sparing Lyra one last look.
Seventeen:
We had identified a few common threads in the victim selection criteria. Some of which, the police had already noted, but they had been looking for vampires, not for someone framing vampires.
“So, we have families, with at least one child under the age of eighteen. All have been home owners, stable, and middle-class. They are targeting victims who will appeal to the largest swath of Americans, and humans in general.”
Sam nodded in agreement, his eyes seemed to follow Lyra’s constant pacing. Their game of I-spy was on going. They both seemed to think I was too busy to notice them watching each other, but I had enough focus to read, while amusing myself with their teenage antics.
“That’s a very wide bracket. How can we figure out what they will use to select their next family with?”
Ellison looked at me expectantly. He seemed to be deeply enjoying this murder -mystery lunch party. This might be just another Tuesday for him, for all I knew? I tapped my thumb against my bottom lip.
“Maybe we don’t search for the family, but rather the nesting grounds. You said that Ghouls like to live underground, and they are mildly allergic to sunlight, right?”
Ellison nodded again.
“So, we need to figure out what the biggest, most unmonitored sections of sewers, and other subterranean dwelling choices might be. We use the centralized proximity between each family to determine where in the city they might be hiding. They’re ugly as sin, so it’s not like they can drive, and all the victims are inside the city boarders. They aren’t even wondering out into Henrico County.”
Ellison smiled winningly, looking over my shoulder.
“What do you think Detective?”
“Yeah, she makes a good point. Now that we know what we are looking for, this could work. Maybe you could use shape-shifter smell to help us track them? Do any of your people know the scent of ghoul?”
Ellison waved him off.
“We don’t need them to know it. All we need to do, is take them to one of your crime scenes, preferably a fresh one. I promise you, Lyra’s people could track a tick in a sewage system.”
Jaden wrinkled her nose in disgust.
“You vampires sure do have an interestingly disturbing sense of humor. Though, my wolf form wouldn’t lose a scent, even under such… repulsive…circumstances.”
Lyra strut over, she laid a map on the table. She seemed to have a whole stack of maps. I had discovered them earlier in my boredom, when they had me practically on house-arrest.
“Let’s get our search grid, and I’ll send out a call to my trackers. Jaden, as much as it scares me to say this, you’re in charge of the pack in my absence.”
Jaden’s eyes widened, and she swished her finger through the air. Her levity was short-lived.
“Wait, if I’m in charge, then that means I don’t get to go ghoul hunting! Lyra, you are the meanest apex to ever live!”
Lyra growled at her, her eyes flashed red and glowed ominously.
“And… By nasty, I mean nasty good on the guitar! Epic solos!”
Jaden grinned sheepishly. Mark shook his head and mouthed, “I’m sorry.” Lyra just huffed and rolled her eyes. She was used to dealing with Jaden, but even Lyra seemed to have limits to Jaden’s sass at times. I shuddered to imagine Jaden in any pack, with any other apex! While Lyra was strong as any other apex, she was much more humane. She was a modern girl, so she lives and leads differently.
“Didn’t she start off by saying meanest?”
Rachelle muttered into my ear. I nodded in confirmation and whispered back, “This is Jaden we’re talking about. Normal logic need not apply.”
She giggled lowly in my ear.
“Point taken.”
I bit down on my lip, feeling her gaze drift downward on me. I couldn’t forget our intimate encounter from just a few hours ago. Considering we were about to go on a monster hunt, I felt as giddy as a school-girl.
“So, we will have teams of vampires and shapeshifters together. I will bring my people in, discretely. We do not want to tip our hand, after all, it is highly unlikely the ghouls decided to start a vampire smear campaign all on their own.”
Sam leaned against the table, his arm brushed past mine. I could feel his tension, and his confusion.
“What does that mean Jameson?!”
Ellison waved a dismissive hand as he began to speak.
“Ghouls are instinctual. They hunt, feed, hide, and they kill whatever crosses their borders. They retain self-awareness, but they are little more than beasts, or children at mind. Someone must have been controlling them. Someone with real power.”
From the bitter expression on Sam’s face, I could easily read his thoughts—not literally. He was infuriated that the real culprits behind his family’s death would go uncaptured. He had thought it was vampires, then he thought it was only ghouls, now he realized there was more to this investigation. That had to be frustrating for him. Hell, it was frustrating to me too! I lived his experience, and I shared in his pain! Despite some lingering desire to kick him in the balls, I felt like I understood Sam Clarke now.
And, I couldn’t really blame him for his preconceived notions. After all, this attack on his family happened very early in the Born discovery. Sam would have grown up believing we were just plain evil!
“Um, guys, you might want to get in here and check this out!”
Jaden’s highest-ranking beta-female called to us from the living room.
***
Astrid, a strong beta-wolf was pointing to the large flat-screen TV. All of us piled in to see what she was calling us for. On the screen down at the Mayor’s office, was a press conference beginning.
The caption read, “The Born Menace.” My blood chilled, and I saw a man I recognized. It was the precinct two Chief. He stood on stage next to the Mayor.
“We cannot stay silent about this any longer. We have an increasing wave of crime like nothing we have ever seen before. We have tried to work with the vampire clans, and the shape-shifter packs, but we must warn the public now!”
Ellison hissed, shooting Rachelle an angry look.
“This will not end well for any of us now. Even if we do manage to put a lid on the ghoul problem.”
Rachelle was reluctant, but she nodded in agreement.
The Chief began to go into details about the crime-scenes. About the murders, and about how they had been going on for over twenty-years.
“…Whole families drained of blood, butchered like cattle. I cannot stand idly by and watch this continue. These renegades have used their charms, and their perfect smiles to deceive you all. These monsters come to life from the darkest corners of our fiction, have been feeding off us like leeches. How long do we intend to stand idly and let them get away with their crimes against man, and nature?!”
“And, let the witch hunt begin…”
Lyra muttered loudly enough for all of us to nod in agreement. Sam Clarke stood with a slack-jaw at the news.
“He’s never took a hardline stance like this before! As police, we are charged with solving the crimes, not twisting the facts for a political ideology!”
Rachelle pointed to the Mayor. A silver haired man grinning from ear-to-ear.
“This is his big chance to platform himself on a polarized agenda. Your Chief is either obeying his orders, or he is going to ride the shockwave of fear to higher office.”
Sam shook his head.
“That…”
Lyra sighed and clapped his shoulder firmly enough to jar him from his shock.
“It is in moments of crisis, that you see people for what they really are. This is the reality my people live in daily. Your Chief is all but signing our death-certificates, by holding this media circus.”
I huffed, I slapped my cheeks hard, the popping sound caused everyone to look at me. I ignored their concerned looks, and I walked over to the weapons case Lyra had ordered specifically for me.
“I cannot change their statements, but I can go gather ghoul heads to present to them in a little PR stunt of my own, who’s with me?”
Ellison smiled winningly, and he stepped forward.
“Sister, you really did pick well. How I envy you this boon. I will lend you my steel, but I will have to send my people underground.”