Civil Seer

by C. M. Cevis

  Civil Origin: Book One

  C.M. Cevis

  This is a work of fiction. Similarities to real people, places, or events are entirely coincidental.

  CIVIL SEER

  First edition. January 15, 2019.

  Copyright © 2019 C.M. Cevis.

  Written by C.M. Cevis.

  To Noelani and Rain, for listening to me talk about ads, formatting, stories and characters. For helping me pick pen names, covers and fonts. For believing in me when I didn’t believe in myself.

  Edited by the amazing Olivia Swenson.

  Cover by the ridiculously talented Fantasia Cover Designs.

  1

  BALTIMORE HAD ALWAYS BEEN WILLOW’S home, even after she’d left it for New York. The city had raised her, made her who and what she was, and while it may not have been the best circumstance that brought her back to it, she was grateful. And happy to be home.

  Sunlight and humidity blasted Willow in the face as the town car driver held the door open for her to get out. That was normal for a coastal city in summer, but it seemed to be hitting Willow especially hard that morning. Maybe because she’d stayed up too late watching movies and drinking wine. She was getting a little too old for that shit, apparently.

  She’d pulled her waist length hair up into a rather high and unintentionally bouncy ponytail that morning, and she was thankful that she had. As it stood, her clothes were probably going to be sticking to her by the end of the day.

  The no-nonsense shades went over her eyes as Willow took a few steps towards the large building that she’d dragged her happy ass out of bed to see that morning. If this hadn’t been a business thing, she’d have put it off for another day. Instead, she’d made herself a heaping cup of coffee, made sure her lipstick was a beautiful shade of blood red, and there she was. The coffee cup was in one hand, and her ridiculously expensive but oh-so-pretty purse was in the other.

  “I won’t be long. Have you eaten this morning?” Willow asked the driver.

  He seemed surprised at the question. “No ma’am. Sick baby at home, I barely had time for anything,” he said with a nervous laugh.

  Willow smiled, reached into her purse, and handed the driver $20. “For what it’s worth, I hope your baby feels better. There’s a great little breakfast place about a block that way,” she said, pointing. “Go on and get yourself something to eat while I’m inside.”

  She turned and walked inside before he had time to argue. She’d come to realize that being nice simply for the sake of being nice wasn’t something that people in the north did, so they didn’t know how to take it. It was much less awkward when she was aggressively nice and didn’t give them a chance to question it.

  Willow sneezed as she walked through the door, but that was the dust, and she had terrible dust allergies. Other than that, first glance said very minimal damage.

  The building had been abandoned for about four months, locked up so tight that there weren’t any squatters. It had been a multi-floor nightclub, but the owner had been terrible with money and lost possession of the business. The bank that had seized the property was looking to unload it for cheap, as long as the buyer took it in its current state.

  “So what do you think?” Angie asked, walking up to her with a grin. Angie was an awesome real estate agent. And she wore Louboutins every day, which was enough for Willow. Those were some of the most uncomfortable shoes ever manufactured.

  “What’s the damage? I know that looking at it isn’t accurate, not for me,” Willow said, with a grin.

  Angie shrugged. “There are some load-bearing beams in the main space that need to be repaired, but most everything else is cosmetic. Re-do the floors, walls, maybe doors. You should probably get better windows—these aren’t insulated very well.”

  Willow sighed and nodded. “How many floors again?”

  “Three.” She followed Willow into the main bar area. “This entry floor was the main space, where he had live music, if there was any. The other two floors were more like VIP areas for the people willing to pay for it. A bit gaudy on the décor currently, but that’s about it,” Angie continued.

  The place had real potential, and Willow wouldn’t have to do much to get the bar up and running soon. Which meant it could help pay for the rest of the work being done.

  “I’ll take it. Let’s get one more final inspection just to be sure, as soon as possible,” she said.

  “I can have someone out by lunch,” Angie said. That was why Willow liked her and paid her high-ass fees.

  “Good. If it all looks solid, get the paperwork going, and call me. The contractors are waiting for word from me already. The second and third floors are going to be the bulk of the work. Since I already have most of the bits and pieces picked out for this area, this place should be up and running quickly,” she said, turning and walking back towards the exit with Angie just behind her.

  “And the carpets and walls for the second and third floors?” she asked.

  Willow paused just inside the door. “I want to let the girls pick their own, so I’ll get them started on that. Most of them are busy getting ready to move down here, but they’re looking out for messages from me, so it shouldn’t take long.”

  Angie nodded. “I’ll call you when the inspection is done, let you know the when and where to come sign paperwork, if it comes to that.”

  Willow smiled and slipped her shades back on. “Talk to you then.” She pushed the door open and walked back outside into the sunlight. That, ladies and gentlemen, is how you get shit done.

  Next stop for the day was an exclusive high-rise condo building downtown that contained a two-bedroom, two-and-a-half bath unit with an office. It was the last one in the building, had a beautiful view of the harbor, and was being held just for Willow.

  The harbor was an interesting place for Baltimore. It was a big tourist attraction for the city, sure. Close to everything that someone who wasn’t from around there would want to see, short of driving to DC. But to people who lived there, it was full of litter, the water was an interesting shade of army green, and you never knew what you’d see floating by. The city had finally decided to do something about the polluted water, but not much else. For someone like Willow, who loved the city but knew what it really was, high enough in the air for it to seem peaceful was the ideal view.

  She’d had to pay for them to hold the condo for her, since the building was in high demand from the city’s rich and sometimes powerful, but the partial security deposit would be worth it if the place looked like the pictures made it look.

  “Ms. Andrews, wonderful to finally meet you.” A man who looked to be in his thirties and wearing a terrible hair piece stood and came around his desk to greet Willow as she entered the office space that was ridiculously big.

  “Please, call me Willow,” she said, taking the hand that he offered with a friendly smile. Andrews wasn’t her real last name, but it was one that she’d used for so long that it would work, legally.

  “Willow, then.”

  “Edward, I presume?” she asked. Edward nodded his agreement. “The pleasure is all mine.” She put a bit of allure into that sentence. Edward ran that place, and Willow was perfectly aware of how to make what she had work for her. She wasn’t going to sleep with him for the condo, but if a little harmless flirting meant that there would be less questions, she would flirt her ass off.

  “We’ve got the condo ready for you,” he said, his face flushing a bit, his words faster than before. He turned towards the door leading back to the lobby and motioned for her to follow. “If you decide to take it, you can have the keys before you leave and move in whenever you desire.” By now his face was tomato red. It was kind of cute, really, that a few words and popping her hip out to the side had that much of an
effect on him. She glanced down and noted the wedding band on his finger. Maybe she’d try and find out who his wife was, give her a few lessons. They’d both appreciate the outcome.

  Edward made idle small talk in the elevator ride up to the thirtieth floor. She had one of the few units that didn’t have someone living above her without having to move in a few floors higher. That had been a huge selling point for her since she’d already had the pleasure of having those horrible neighbors that can’t walk without stomping and get up at 5 a.m. on weekends. That wasn’t something she needed to experience again.

  “I’ll stay here in the entryway while you take a look. Let me know if you have any questions,” Edward said, opening the door to the condo and stepping back so that she could go inside.

  That was something else that she’d noticed about more exclusive buildings and businesses: They tended to leave you to it unless you made it known that you clearly needed them. There was no following you around, asking if there was something that they could help you with, or explaining every nook and cranny of something. They understood that you had a brain and were perfectly capable of using it without their hand-holding. It was refreshing.

  The condo opened out to a full wall of windows and a balcony that spanned just about the same area. It was an open floorplan, with not much separating dining, kitchen, and living, though it was clear that each had its own space. The laundry room was tucked off of the kitchen, along with a small powder room. The bedrooms were both down a small hallway from the living area. The master had its own bath and a walk-in closet the size of some people’s bedrooms. The other bedroom had a full bath that shared the same hall. And there were windows everywhere. Willow loved natural light and warm colors, so while the window-to-wall ratio was right up her alley, the stark whites would have to go. And she wanted an island in her closet for accessories. And a shoe section of shelving. She made a mental note.

  “Edward,” she called out. It took him a few seconds to get to where she was, tucked in the master bath.

  “Yes ma’am,” he said, smile bright and flush having finally left his face.

  “What kind of changes am I allowed to make?”

  “Quite a bit. It’s probably be easier for you to tell me what you’re thinking and me to tell you if it’s allowed,” he said with a slight laugh. Willow liked that answer already.

  “Paint?”

  “Of course,” he responded without hesitation.

  “Floors?”

  “Sure, we just ask that you are considerate of the people below you. For example, hard wood floors will produce more noise when walking, things like that,” he said. Willow nodded. Made sense.

  “Accessory island?” she asked, motioning towards the closet.

  “That would be fine, but due to the floor work needed to accommodate it, we ask that you do the work with the expectation of it staying should you choose to leave,” he said. Once again, made sense.

  “Not that I’m considering this, but just out of curiosity, what are the views on things like cabinet resurfacing of countertops?” she asked. The two of them began a slow stroll together back out into the living room.

  “Same as the closet work. We ask that you do it with the expectation of it staying should you choose to leave,” he said.

  “Sounds fair. I’ll take it. How much more do I owe you?” She had shit to get done, and if she needed a second work crew in her condo, she wanted that call put in as soon as possible. Hotels were only fun for a little while, even the expensive ones.

  “Let’s go back down to the office, and we can go over the paperwork together,” he said, offering his arm. Well, wasn’t he a suave little man. Willow smiled and took his arm gently, allowing him to lead her back downstairs.

  2

  THE PHONE WAS RINGING. IT took Nick a second to recognize the new song he’d changed it to recently, but that was definitely what had brought him out of a rather happy dream and back into reality.

  He pressed the phone to his cheek but didn’t bother to open his eyes. “Yeah.” The other side of the bed moved as Jasmine, his sometimes-not-really friend with benefits, softly protested being woken up. She’d get over it.

  “Sorry to wake you, boss, but they want you at a scene that just broke.” The casual title meant that it was Isaiah, who normally wasn’t up this early in the morning either. Something must have been bad wrong.

  “Don’t worry about it.” Nick swung his legs over the side of the bed and sat up to rub his eyes. The clock on his bedside table clicked to 7:02 a.m. He’d been working until at least 2 a.m. for weeks now and had been promised the chance to sleep in until at least 10 today. Apparently, the shit had hit the fan somewhere. “What’s going on?”

  “Someone called in a body a few blocks from you. I’m on my way there, so I can’t give you anything firsthand just yet, but the new guys on site said it looks like a vamp kill,” Isaiah replied. The toilet in the other room flushed behind Nick, and he heard the water running. He hadn’t noticed Jasmine get up, but now she was getting ready to leave.

  “Yeah, okay. Text me the address. I’ll take a quick shower to wake up, and I’ll meet you there,” Nick said.

  “I’ll have coffee waiting for you,” Isaiah said.

  “My dog,” Nick replied with a grin before he ended the call.

  ~ ~

  THE SCENE WAS LITERALLY A few blocks from Nick’s apartment building. He’d thought about walking but figured he wasn’t going to get the option to go back home and get more sleep, so he might as well be prepared and on four wheels. The morning was warm and breezy, the kind of weather that most of the city loved. Considering he was about to visit a corpse, Nick thanked his lucky stars the higher temps and humidity had yet to make everyone miserable. The combination would have made this scene vomit-inducingly fragrant.

  “It’s down here, under the bridge,” Isaiah said, waving him through the barricade. “Patrick just got here a few minutes ago, so he probably doesn’t have much to say yet.” He handed Nick a large cup emblazoned with the logo of a nearby coffee shop that Nick had seen but never tried. Nick didn’t even care what kind of coffee it was, he just wanted the caffeine.

  “Right.”

  Isaiah turned and made his way back up to help the younger officers, leaving Nick to walk down under the bridge alone.

  Patrick, coroner for the main Baltimore branch, was leaning over the body, looking at something closely. He was at least as old as Nick but had those good genes that made him look like he was a twenty-one-year-old Spanish lothario. He was also happily married and the father to a set of beautiful twin toddlers that he and his wife adored.

  “Morning,” Nick said as he walked closer.

  “And what a way to start it, huh?” Pat said, glancing up with a grin. “I heard you had the morning off.”

  Nick snorted and took another long drink of the coffee, burning off half his taste buds in the process. The desire to sleep had stolen his ability to give a shit just then.

  “I did. And then someone called in a vamp kill. Can’t have the head of the ‘newly formed DCS’ lying in bed while shit like this is going down,” he said. The two of them shared a comfortable laugh.

  Patrick and Nicholas had always had a good working relationship, and it made both of their jobs easier. They were also friends outside of work, so they knew the things that ticked each other off and avoided them. That was why Nick knew about the happy wife and the beautiful babies. He’d gone to the hospital and sat with Heather when Patrick had been called in on an emergency while she was in labor. And he’d taken the heat for Pat when he’d been dinged about using his sirens to make it back to the hospital in time to be there for the delivery. In a violent city like Baltimore, war makes fast friends, and a lot of the guys were practically family. Their significant others were friends, the kids had playdates, and they watched each other’s homes and fed each other’s pets when they were out of town.

  “For what it’s worth, I’m sorry you didn’t get to slee
p in,” Pat said. Nick nodded his appreciation. “This is the strangest vamp kill I’ve ever seen,” Patrick continued, standing and revealing a rather shocking body with a face frozen in terror and skin that obviously wasn’t its original shade.

  “Why is that?” Nick asked.

  Patrick put the few things that he’d been holding back into his bag and brushed the street dirt from his pants. “I can give you a better answer after I get him back downtown and crack him open, but with what I can see out here, I think he bled out through that wound on his chest, not through any puncture marks. But then again, they may just be somewhere that I can’t get to yet, and I don’t want to disturb the scene until the guys have had a chance to get everything that they need from it.” He tilted his head to examine the body again.

  Nick nodded. “Makes sense. What’s the point of slashing someone up and letting them bleed out?”

  Pat shrugged. “Blood collection? I don’t get the feeling it stays ‘fresh’ long enough for one vampire to drink that much, though.”

  Based on what Nick knew about vampires, he’d bet Patrick was right about the short shelf life of blood. One body held way more blood than one vampire could drink in a reasonable amount of time. And he’d never heard about them collecting blood and storing it for later. He made a mental note to check old cases for something similar when he got back to the office.

  “Let me know what you find when you can get him back, okay?” Nick said.

  “I’ll send you the report as soon as it’s done,” Pat responded.

  Nick walked back up the bank where Isaiah stood with the other beat cops. “Isaiah,” Nick started.

  “Yeah, boss,” he said with a grin.

  Nick almost winced. “Don’t call me that,” he said, like he said every time Isaiah called him that. “Call in the rookies. We need to talk to the people around here, and we might as well have a few more bodies to do it. They’re green to this kind of stuff, so they might learn something too.”