Civil Seer

by C. M. Cevis

  Willow sighed and turned to face the captain. "There has been something violent brewing in the community for the past year now. Something that no one governing body can seem to quell, so they work to keep it as calm as they can. The problem is that this world we live in is at a tipping point, Nina. And one race trying to frame another might just be the match that lights that big-ass flame.” Her voice softened. “If that happens, God help us all."

  Nick frowned as Willow and Nina both turned to watch the crowd through the front window. It was angry, a boiling sea of emotions and hatred outside.

  "This isn't going to end well, is it?" Nick asked. Neither woman answered.

  "Come on. We've got a presentation to do," Willow said, turning and starting a troubled walk towards the meeting room. Nina and Nick shot each other a glance and followed.

  ~ ~

  "Good morning, ladies and gents. I hope what's going on outside isn’t weighing too heavily on everyone," Willow said, making herself smile though it was weighing heavily on her. "Today, we're going to talk about the Fae."

  The presentation wasn't planned to be a long one. First, because the officers had a lot of work to do and a lot of eyes on them while they did it. The last thing Willow wanted was to be a hindrance. Second, because the Fae had a tendency to steer clear of things like technology and large cities. Willow was a city girl at heart, and always had been, which meant that she didn't have a lot of firsthand experience with the Fae. Plus, they probably wouldn’t cause to much trouble in urban Baltimore.

  “There are two courts when it comes to Fae, the Seelie and Unseelie. In this area of the world, there are more Seelie Fae, I assume because of its rather close proximity to the queen’s court, hidden somewhere out in the more sparsely populated bits of the Harford County area, oddly enough. If you have a choice on which court to deal with, you’ll probably want to choose the Seelie. Understand they are both dark and terrifying courts, just in different ways. I personally prefer the Unseelie, since they wear their ugliness on the outside, both physically and personality-wise. At least I know what I’m getting into.

  “The Seelie queen is Queen Arwyn. She is everything you’d probably expect of the Fae: tall, lean, pale, and beautiful. She also has a wicked temper, and should the mood strike her, she has no problem watching you drawn and quartered for her amusement. I guess the point is, watch your ass. The Unseelie Queen is Queen Bethany. Her beauty is darker, more bold colors and outright violence. I have less experience with her, but I’ve been told that her court is hidden in Nevada, and that she ventures into Las Vegas from time to time to gamble and catch the occasional show. The two queens can’t stand each other, though the reason has largely been lost to time. I’ve heard enough differing rumors to be sure that none of them are probably true.”

  “Fae normally stay outside of large cities, since the steel and other modern advances have a tendency to mess with their abilities, but they do occasionally visit. I haven’t seen any here, but I did see a few in New York. A few meaning maybe two a year on average.”

  Willow didn’t have too much else to say about the Fae and turned the time over to some of the others in the room who had experiences that they shared to help the others. Considering the anger and blaming that was going on outside of the building, it was nice to see the officers working together.

  It wasn’t until after the group had broken up that Willow got the chance to talk to Nick again.

  “What’s up?” Nick asked as she approached.

  Willow sighed, annoyed that she was even thinking what she was thinking, but…

  “I have an idea, and I hate it,” she said.

  Nick covered his laugh with a cough. “All right, what’s the idea?”

  “I think we need to go see the Chamber about their rogue witches. And we need to take Alex with us when we do,” she said.

  Nick nodded. “All right. Why Alex?”

  “Because he isn’t a witch, and the more not-me’s talking, the better. They don’t really like me, remember?” she said, frowning. Had he forgotten those two Chamber reps that had visited his office? Definitely not fans of hers.

  “Oh, right,” Nick said, realization dawning. “I’ll make the call.”

  ~ ~

  THE BALTIMORE CHAMBER HELD SPACE outside of the actual city, in Owings Mills, which seemed fitting. That area had always been associated with people who thought that they were better than everyone else, partly because when they’d first developed the area, it had been too expensive for most to afford. It wasn’t quite as fancy now as demand dropped and prices came down, but the people were about the same. The Chamber fit right in.

  The office, which was a loose term since it was actually a large house, sat in a small gated community, far away from the riffraff that the Chamber was in charge of. You had to know how to get past the gate, which meant that you had to be a witch of some sort, and even then, they might not let you in. Whoever was on the gate that day made an audible noise of disgust before they opened the gate. Willow wasn’t sure if it was directed at her or at life in general, but either way she was offended.

  The trio left the car in a large, circular driveway, and trudged up a rather ornate, topiary lined, cobblestone path, before finally arriving at a set of doors tall enough to back a garbage truck through. Willow rolled her eyes and rang the doorbell. She stepped back to stand beside Alex, letting Nick be the face of the group.

  “This is stupid, they just let us in the damn gate,” she muttered.

  “Willow, we’re here for a reason,” Alex said, being the voice of reason for the night.

  Willow snorted. “I know why the hell we’re here, this was my idea. That doesn’t mean that I don’t think that these people are fucking—”

  “Good afternoon,” Nick said loudly as someone opened the door, and Willow swallowed the rest of her scathing review. “We were hoping that we could speak to the head of the Baltimore Commission. The BCPD has some information for her.” Nick held up his badge for whoever was on the other side of the door and waited.

  “And the rogue witch at your side?” the voice asked. Willow scowled, but Nick didn’t flinch.

  “She has been helping us with the investigation and can much better explain what she’s seen than I can, should it be necessary,” he replied to the voice.

  “Very well. Come in.”

  Nick stepped through the door, and Alex grabbed Willow’s arm, pulling her along with him

  The voice belonged to a small, older woman that had power singing around her. Not a lot of it, mind you, but enough to get your attention if she needed to. She had to be at least eighty, and it annoyed the hell out of Willow that anyone would have an eighty-year-old woman playing doorman for them. The more she found out, the less she liked anything having to do with this silly idea of hers.

  “Why am I not surprised?” Robert said, entering the hallway and dismissing the older woman with a wave. Willow bit her tongue, amusing herself by picturing him on fire.

  “We need to speak to you all about a group of witches that seem to be orchestrating a string of murders in the area. Since these are your people, we’re hoping that you can help,” Alex said.

  “And you brought us the witch as trade for our assistance?” Robert said with a sly smile.

  “No.” Alex and Nick spoke in unison. Robert’s face hardened.

  “There have been five bodies already, Robert. Maybe you should stop being a little prick and help,” Willow snapped, ignoring her resolve not to say much for just a moment. Robert gave her an annoyed look but motioned for the group to follow him.

  Robert led them into a large, open room that contained one ancient woman in an almost comically large chair. It was as if the woman was attempting to intimidate people by being in a throne. Instead, the sheer size of the furniture dwarfed her. She was old, but not in human terms. She was old as in ancient and abnormally preserved. The weight of her age, and the power that sustained her pressed against Willow from all sides as she walked c
loser.

  “Good evening, ma’am. We’re here on behalf of the BCPD, hoping that you can help us with several murders that we believe are being orchestrated by a group of witches local to the area,” Nick said.

  The old woman had fixed her gaze on Willow, even as she answered Nick. “I appreciate your manners, but my name is not ma’am,” she croaked out. She may be older than hell, but she wasn’t slow. Not in the slightest.

  “I apologize, but I don’t know your name,” Nick said.

  “Your rogue witch does,” she spat.

  Willow had to work not to roll her eyes. “Her name is Janet.” Whatever it took for that woman to give them any information that she might have. At this point, Willow was repeating those words in her head.

  “Ms. Janet,” Alex tried.

  “Just Janet, please, young man,” she interrupted.

  “Right. Janet. Since you all seem to have such a tight hold on the witches here in the city, we were hoping that perhaps you could tell us who would have the ability to do what we think is being done here, since it might help us save lives.”

  “You already have a witch at your disposal. What do you need me for?”

  Willow crossed her arms and bit her tongue. Literally. Maybe the pain would keep her from responding to the jabs this woman was throwing.

  “Willow doesn’t know every witch in the city. I was given the impression that you do,” Nick said. Willow smirked. That was going to piss Janet off, implying that if Janet didn’t help them, she wasn’t as well connected as she pretended to be.

  “I know every witch in the city except for yours,” Janet said.

  Willow huffed out a sigh and kept silent for a count of ten. Then, “Is that what the problem is? Are you really going to put an entire city of people at risk because you’re mad that I won’t kiss your ass?” She threw her hands in the air.

  “You’re the one that won’t submit. It seems like it’s you who is willing to put the entire city at risk for your stubbornness,” Janet responded coldly.

  Willow narrowed her eyes at the old woman. “This was a terrible idea,” she said, more to herself than to the others. She should have known that the people here wouldn’t care enough to help. “Forget it. We’re leaving.”

  A low growl started from somewhere in the room and erupted into a violent roar as what looked like lightning spidered around the three. Willow smiled.

  “Well hey there, puppy,” she said, turning in the direction of the growling. Nick and Alex stood still, eyes wide. She had just saved them from something invisible and pissed off, and they knew it. They didn’t know the old woman had set it on them.

  “I thought you were a clairvoyant,” Janet said, clearly annoyed that her trick hadn’t worked. In response, Willow simply smiled.

  “Surprising that Ose only left you with one pet. Have you pissed him off already?”

  Nick and Alex shared a confused look. Willow would fill them in later. Or maybe she wouldn’t.

  “How do you know that I deal with Ose?” Janet asked, and then, after a moment, “And how do you know what he normally does?”

  “Ose normally leaves a mark with three of his dogs. It helps them do his bidding in return for the deal that they’ve made. However, once the mark has annoyed him with their use of his gift, he calls back two of his pets, leaving the mark with just one. That pet’s orders are to report in to Ose regularly. When the dog reports something that Ose doesn’t like, he comes to collect before the mark can fuck up his prize any more than he or she already has,” Willow said, a slow, brutal smile spreading across her lips. “You’ve made Ose upset, Janet.”

  “The only way you could know that is if you’d made a deal yourself. And you’re alive, so clearly you haven’t.” Janet spat the words at Willow, even as her eyes showed a crack in her confidence.

  Willow shrugged. “Whatever.” She turned to Alex and Nick. “Let’s go. She doesn’t know anything.”

  “I might know something,” Janet said. Her eyes seemed to search around the room, grasping for something to say to keep them from leaving, to convince Willow to tell her more.

  “No you don’t, old woman. The only thing you know is that your iron grip on the witches of this city isn’t as tight as you think it is, and I’m not just talking about me. Your reluctance to tell the authorities has cost five people their lives. That blood is on your hands just as much as on the murderer’s. You’ve far outlived your usefulness, Janet, and from what I can see, Ose knows it. Watch your back.”

  Willow laughed as she walked out into the hallway. The laugh was cold, and it felt good. Nick and Alex followed silently behind her. Just out of sight of Janet, Willow stopped.

  “If you send that puppy after me, I will kill it. And Ose definitely won’t be happy with you then,” she called.

  “You can’t kill a hellhound,” Janet yelled, her voice frail and echoing around the group.

  Willow chuckled. “Try me,” she said, turning and continuing towards the exit.

  Once outside, Alex matched her stride. “Now what?” he asked softly. “We don’t have any more than we had when we arrived.”

  “My guess? Another body,” Willow said, frowning.

  Nick’s phone rang.

  22

  THE WAREHOUSE, ACCORDING TO WHAT Isaiah told him on his way out there, was in use but had been temporarily closed for the last few weeks. No one from the company that leased the place had been in or out of there in at least a week, so they had no idea what might have happened to the poor dead woman on their floor.

  Nick had sent Alex and Willow on after the fiasco at the Chamber. Alex had something else to do, and Nick didn’t want to put Willow through another crime scene. She’d told him repeatedly that she could handle it, but he felt too shitty after watching what happened to her the last three times. Instead, he’d called Lance and asked him to meet up at the scene. Hopefully, he could tell him something more than what they already had.

  Lance beat him to the scene and was talking to Patrick about the body when Nick walked up on the conversation.

  “There you are. We were starting to think you weren’t going to show,” Patrick said, the teasing all over his face.

  Nick chuckled. “Yeah, yeah. What have we got?”

  “Woman in her early thirties, hasn’t been here long. I sent a few pictures to the captain to see if she could get a jump start on IDing the vic, and she said that the woman was married and had two small children. Her husband reported her missing two days ago after she didn’t show up to pick up the kids from daycare. No one had heard a peep until today. The husband is on his way down to the station, pretty upset of course, and we’re on a time limit with body number six,” Pat said.

  Nick sighed and nodded. “Did you get anything?” he asked, turning his attention to Lance.

  “The murder took place in the same place as the last. The body smells the same, so the killing part seems to be centralized. We just haven’t found the location yet. I could try tracking it, but I’m not sure how far I’d get. Whoever is doing this seems to be covering their tracks pretty well.”

  With a frown, Nick rubbed his face. “How difficult would it be for you to give tracking a try?”

  “Not difficult. But I’d have to shift,” Lance said quietly. Nick nodded his understanding. Lance was saying that there was no way in hell it was going to happen right then and there. It would have to be private. “The scent is almost exactly the same. I’d say, same location and same murderer. This is one guy,” Lance confirmed.

  “That matches what Willow sees,” Nick said, thinking out loud. “Can you tell if there was magic involved this time too?” Nick asked. Lance crouched down and inconspicuously inhaled. He stood just in time to sneeze and rub his nose.

  “Yeah, there’s magic,” he said. Nick gave him a questioning look, and Lance grinned. “Fresh magic makes me sneeze, sorry.” Nick smiled, for some reason amused that his shifter officer was allergic to magic.

  “All right, let’s
give the guys the scene. We can take a look around when they’re done,” Nick said. He and Lance walked back toward where the cruisers were parked. Willow leaned against Nick’s driver’s side door.

  “I told you not to come,” Nick said.

  Willow shrugged. “I’m terrible at following directions sometimes. Sue me,” she said with a laugh. Nick sighed.

  “I don’t want to put you through that again,” he said, meeting her eyes to express his sincerity. Willow seemed to search Nick’s face. He didn’t know what she was looking for, but whatever it was, she found it and relented.

  “Fine. I can experience the body through Lance,” she said. Nick made a face. “It’ll be less traumatic for me because it’s a step removed. But since the scene is fresh, I might still be able to get something,” she explained.

  “I’m fine with it,” Lance said before Nick had a chance to object.

  Nick threw up his arms in surrender. “Fine,” he said, hoping that he wasn’t about to regret allowing this.

  Willow motioned for Lance to come closer, then wrapped her arms around him. Lance’s arms went securely around Willow’s waist, and he pulled her close, closing his eyes. Willow seemed to take a moment to steady herself, and then took a deep breath.

  ~ ~

  THE MAN IN FRONT OF her was the same man from sequined big boobs—she knew that immediately. This time, she saw what happened when the woman died. The hand of the man shifted, but not his body. It looked almost like a bear claw, and his eyes went from human to a bright yellow, and then back to human when he returned to his original form. There was something familiar about him, though Willow couldn’t place what. It wasn’t that she’d seen him numerous times in these visions either—it was something else.

  Before she had more time to think about it, the man had picked up a shovel and hit the woman with an uppercut that killed her and ripped Willow from Lance’s arms, threw her violently into the side of the police cruiser hard enough to leave a dent, split her lip, and left her with enough blood in her mouth that she came to gagging and needing to spit.