by Amie Gibbons
No, really, I counted.
“You’re special, so you have been fast tracked, given preferential treatment, and haven’t been punished for screw ups. That ends tonight.”
My stomach lurched and my eyes filled with tears. “I thought I was doing what I could to get us a valuable ally.”
“You’re a junior agent. That wasn’t your call. Give me your badge.”
“Grant?” My voice broke.
“I don’t want to hear it, Ryder. You are on probation.”
I dug through my purse with shakin’ hands, half blind with tears.
I handed it over and he took it without lookin’ away from the road.
“You’re on desk,” Grant said, pullin’ into the lot with my lonely car. “You will only go to scenes to get visions, and until this case is over, you will have nothing to do with any of the vampires in that nest. Go home. I want you in the office by nine.”
“How long?” I croaked as I climbed out.
“Until I’m convinced you have learned your lesson and can be trusted.”
He reached over, slammed the door and sped off, leaving me cryin’ in the dark.
Chapter ten
I don’t remember drivin’ back to my house, just strugglin’ with the keys and bursting inside, then driftin’ in and out on the couch until I had to get ready for work.
I was in the office just before nine with our usual coffee orders.
“Girl,” Jet said as he took his cup.
He didn’t hug me this time.
I opened my mouth, eyes stingin’, and shook my head. Any words and I’d start to cry again.
I put Dan’s coffee on his desk.
He nodded, givin’ me a look I’d swear was sympathy if I didn’t know better.
I put Grant’s on his desk instead of handin’ it to him, then sat at mine.
No one said anything for a minute.
Grant took a swig of his coffee. “Kowalski, the girl. Bridges, with Irish. Ryder,” he said, gettin’ up and droppin’ a stack of papers the size of a Tolstoy novel on my desk, “you know where you are. Run the coffee down to Kat. Your ass better be back at this desk in five minutes.”
He got on his computer and we all jumped to.
I ran the coffee to Kat, told her I couldn’t talk, and she promised to find me once the autopsy was done. I was back within the five minutes, and got to work on the impossible stack.
Okay, here’s the thing, when he said he’d do worse than fire me, he meant it.
Paperwork sucks!
I spent the morning buried in reports, spreadsheets, and financial records.
“Hey,” Jet said around lunch time, droppin’ a sandwich on my desk. My favorite, a BLT with cucumber, pickles and banana peppers thrown on.
“Wow, I must be in bigger trouble than I thought.” I grabbed my baconey goodness. “What’s this? Last meal time?”
He pulled his chair over and sat next to me. “You really stepped in it.”
“I know.”
“What were you thinking?”
“It seemed like a good idea at the time?” I shrugged. “Looking back, obviously I was an idiot, but I was tryin’ to help.”
“Ariana, please don’t tell me you have a thing for that vamp?” He unwrapped his vegetarian sandwich.
Ya know what? If it doesn’t have meat on it, it’s not a sandwich.
“I can’t.”
“You’re lucky Grant didn’t fire you. You compromised a case, girl.”
I didn’t say anything.
“Ariana, you’re the exception here. Everyone else had to be twenty-three and have experience. That’s how it works. But you didn’t. Every day, you have to learn on the job, in the field, and until yesterday, you weren’t doing bad. But Grant vouched for you. When he invited you to join, he was sticking his neck out. And last night, you took an ax to it.”
Tears stung my eyes.
“Girl, you scared us. When I couldn’t get a hold of you, Grant’s first words were, ‘She always answers her phone.’ He was scared. So was I.”
“I’m sorry I scared you.”
“Good. That’s a start.” He nodded. “I’ve got to go.” He got up with his sandwich.
“What’s her name?”
“Amber Chase. She was a manager of a clothing store in the West End mini-mall. I talked to her boyfriend. He was nowhere near the place last night. He was at their home down in Bellevue.”
His lip trembled.
“And she never made it home. Jet, I’m so sorry.”
I couldn’t believe Grant put him on that, he really had no heart today.
“When did Kat put time of death?”
“Just after eleven, probably right after she closed for the night.”
“That breaks his pattern though, why?”
Jet shrugged. “That’s for me to find out. Bye, girl.”
He walked away and I went back to the mountain of papers.
Grant sat down about an hour later, Jet and Dan close behind.
“Kowalski?” Grant said once they were settled.
“Name’s Amber Chase,” Jet said. “Twenty-six. Boyfriend identified the body. She was the manager of Dr. Blue’s lingerie shop in that mini-mall. It’s owned by a parent company that I traced back to a Todd Jacobson. Not much on him in the system. Still looking.”
“Irish and I ran the fingerprints off the bodies,” Dan said. “The prints on Jo were a match to the bartender, Dave Rattie. The ones on Miranda matched her father’s. And the ones on Amber were, big surprise, the boyfriend’s.”
Miranda went off with who she thought was her father, and was raped by the demon in her father’s form?
My stomach lurched and I gagged.
That was too sick.
“Miranda was at a yacht party the night she was murdered,” Grant said. “The captain said he was talking to Miranda after and a man she said was her dad picked her up at the wharf.”
“I don’t think we’re going to find these guys with the usual pound the pavement, General,” Jet said.
Grant nodded. “Ryder, go up to Irish and go over the evidence.”
I broke into a grin. “So I’m...?”
“No. You’re still on desk. You just get to investigate right now because we need all hands and I need you to get a vision.”
“Yes, sir.” I ran up to Irish.
“You okay, lass?” he asked, starin’ at me a little too hard, like he was fixin’ to say something.
“You heard?”
“The entire building heard.”
“Did you hear all of it?”
He eyed me over his microscope. “How would I know? I don’t know what I don’t know. Now do I?”
I rolled my eyes. “Grant got mean.”
He raised bushy eyebrows at me. “You mean he got strict.”
“What?” I crossed my arms.
“Let’s just say the word millennial has been tossed around a lot lately.”
My jaw dropped. “I am not being a typical millennial.”
“I didn’t say it. I think you’re acting like you’ve been allowed to act because you’re psychic. Most millennials think they’re special. You actually are. Maybe try not to take advantage of it so much in the future.”
“I don’t even understand what I did, Irish.” I walked over and leaned against the counter next to him. “I mean before last night, which was stupid of me. But Grant’s actin’ like this was the last straw and I don’t know what the first ones were.”
“That is part of the problem. You don’t realize when you’re getting special treatment or crossing the line.”
“How am I supposed to know if no one tells me?”
“That’s a good point. Like I said, you’re acting like… you act, because everyone has let you.”
I narrowed my eyes. “What were you going to say?”
“Ariana.”
“Come on. How will I learn?”
“I was going to say… you act a little entitled.”
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I gasped.
“And spoiled,” he said, holdin’ up his hands. “I say this with love.”
“How… how do I fix it then?”
“Accept the consequences of your actions and do it without complaining, don’t come in late, don’t ask for special little things no one else gets, don’t run off on a case by yourself.”
“I just said, I admit that was stupid.”
“And stop acting like every personal thing is a crisis that the whole office has to hear about.”
I wrinkled my nose. “Do I really do that?”
“This is the first time there has actually been talk about you that didn’t get started by you telling half the office yourself.”
He nailed me with his eyes.
“You are special, Ariana, and we are lucky to have you.”
“Thanks.”
But I still felt… deflated.
“I gotta get on the evidence,” I said.
“Do you, my psychic princess. Do you.”
I smiled and took the evidence to my nesting corner.
I took out Amber’s top, runnin’ my fingers over it. Irish had already run tests on the clothes and couldn’t find anything out of the ordinary, but those were just for drugs or unusual substances.
I switched to the pants.
Flash.
The demon was over Amber’s limp body. He took the condom off and tucked it into his pocket just like he did before. A drop of liquid flew off and landed on the pants.
“Oh my God!” I squealed.
Irish jumped off his stool, grabbing at his chest. “Don’t do that, lass. My heart can’t take it.”
Right, Irish had heart problems. He’d had a heart attack when he was thirty-five.
“He screwed up!” I bounced to Irish with the pants and pointed to the spot. “Right here. I saw it. He took off the condom, put it in his pocket, but some of the fluid got flicked off.”
“I ran it under the UV,” Irish said, shaking his head. “How did I miss it?”
“It’s kinda under the zipper,” I said. “It’s not your fault.”
“Another thing about being an adult, Ariana, take responsibility when you screw up. I missed this and I shouldn’t have.”
“Okay then.” I nodded. “Bad you.”
“Let’s run it.”
He swabbed the spot while I grabbed the baggie for it and labeled it.
He scanned the sample into the computer.
It takes hours to run DNA through the computers to sequence it. Irish explained it to me once. Basically what they do is find sixteen alleles and look at them, and we can match it to DNA samples cuz the chances of two humans having all sixteen the same are astronomical.
I fondled the other pieces of evidence while he sequenced the first allele used to test.
“Oh dear,” he said after a while. “Ariana!”
“Yeah.”
He typed a few keys and pointed to the screen as a picture popped up.
“I don’t get it,” I said.
“That’s the DNA.”
“Um, I’m not an expert, but aren’t there only supposed to be two of the swirly things?” I asked as Irish’s fingers flew over the machine’s attached computer.
“Yes. The double helix is one of the most stable structures in all of nature, that’s why DNA evolved that way. This is...”
He ran his hands through his thin hair, mouth workin’.
“This is impossible,” he finally said. “You know how DNA works, there’s one strand and a complimenting one. These have one strand, and then these other two compliment it. And the bonds go between all three.” He shook his head. “This can’t be possible.”
“Irish, we just proved the demons have DNA, and that it doesn’t change when they change their looks!” I squealed again and hugged him.
“True, lass, but it’s…”
I grinned and called Grant.
“Grant,” he said.
“General, we got something huge. You have to get to the lab.”
He hung up and blew into the lab not a minute later.
“Go,” he said.
I looked at Irish and he rolled a hand in my direction.
“This was your discovery, lass; I just ran it through the computer.”
“Okay. I was going over Amber’s clothes, and when I touched the pants, wham! Vision close up, which was actually kinda gross, I mean, those things aren’t pretty under normal circumstances and… not important, right. He took off the condom and put it in his pocket but some fluids flew off onto her pants. We have a DNA sample!”
“Ryder.” Grant circled his hand, telling me to get to the point.
“Sorry. Focusing. We put it in the machine. And this is what we got.”
I did my best Vanna White arm swirl at the screen.
“What the hell is that?”
“That is a triple helix.” I bounced on the balls of my feet. “It’s demon DNA. Not only did he screw up by leaving DNA, we have proof that demons have DNA, and that they can’t change it even when they change their looks, and it doesn’t resemble anything around here.”
“Ryder, calm down,” Grant said. “This is fascinating, and I’m sure Irish will have fun breaking this down for a year, but it doesn’t bring us any closer to catching them.”
“Oh.” My feet landed squarely on the floor. “Right.”
“Go over the evidence, think about seeing where these demons are now.”
I nodded and he left.
“This is still huge,” I said.
“You don’t need to convince me,” Irish said, going back to his computers.
###
After another hour of playing with the evidence, I cracked my neck and sat back.
“What I need is a vision of the next victim before it happens,” I said as I re-packaged the evidence. “Why can’t I get those? Ya know, a nice painted out picture of who, where, and when. That would be helpful.”
Irish shrugged, eyes glued to the DNA analysis.
“I’m outta here.” I kissed his soft, cool cheek and left.
“Bye, lass.”
“I told Len to have everyone connected to the girls make a list of possible enemies,” Grant was saying to the guys as I walked up to our set of desks.
“That’s gonna be one monster of a list to run down, General,” I said.
“Yes, it is. We’re meeting with them tonight. You’re coming to get visions, Ryder, but you’re on a short leash.
“Yes, sir,” I said with a nod, goin’ back to my desk and grabbin’ the next piece of the stack of paperwork.
Grant met my eyes and gave a short, sharp nod.
I grinned.
Chapter eleven
“What do you think is gonna happen?” I asked after we sat at the otherwise empty café, practically wigglin’ outta my seat.
Alfonzo’s is usually open until nine, but when the FBI asks you to close early, you do it.
“The vampires think they may be able to follow the demon’s scent off the clothing,” Grant said. “They have been making suspect lists, and will tell us what they know of demons.”
Quil opened the door and I sat up straighter.
Grant shot me a look and I smiled, mouthing, “Sorry.”
He shook his head and rose as Quil, Len, and two women walked to our table.
“Good evening,” Quil said.
He was dressed in black suit pants and a light purple button-up, and Len had shaved and was in jeans and a nice red top.
The two strangers looked to be in their twenties, human years obviously. The first had long blond hair, dark blue eyes, was about six inches taller than me, and had a lithe, athletic build under her jeans and silky blue top.
The second was a beautiful Latina with the prettiest cinnamon skin I’ve ever seen, nearly as tall as the first but with a curvy body in a red wrap dress, and large dark eyes.
“Hey, darling.” Len wrapped his arm around my shoulders and I leaned into him.
“Hey.”
The guys pulled out chairs for the women to sit, then grabbed their own. Gentlemen, my my.
Grant looked at Quil. “Hello again. Ladies, I’m Special Agent Grant. This is Kowalski, Bridges, and Ryder.” He nodded to each of us in turn.
“Carla Dumount,” Quil said, inclinin’ his head towards the Latina, “and Stephanie Interhiemer.”
“Demons,” Grant said. “Go.”
“Everything you ever wanted to know about demons but were afraid to ask?” Len asked, grinning.
Oh, he was tryin’ so hard to lighten the mood.
“Something like that,” Grant said, staring at Quil.
“Demons come from what we call the Other Side. It’s a parallel dimension,” Quil said.
I nodded. We already knew that.
“They can’t stay here during the day even if they want to. They have to be summoned to cross over,” Quil said. “Which requires a massive amount of energy and usually an offering to get them to come. They then do jobs in exchange for payment they can take back to their dimension.”
“As far as we can tell,” Len said, “there are as many different types of demons as there are humans. Some are evil, some are not, they have lives, jobs, families over there. Many of the ones that come here are evil and or just like chaos.”
“Other than that, we don’t know much more general things,” Quil said once it was clear Len was done. “We do know more specific things about certain types though.”
“Types? Do you mean different species?” Jet asked.
Quil nodded. “We believe we’re dealing with Sumnticors.”
Of course, cuz you can’t have demons with a boring, pronounceable name like Hulks or anything.
“They’re ruthless, take trophies, and can copy human faces,” Quil said. “They can block psychic powers, and are near impossible to kill. They’re as strong as us and regenerate even faster. The only way to kill them is to dismember them completely and burn the pieces.”
He smiled. “Actually, it used to be nearly impossible to kill them. They blow up just as well as anything else in this dimension, and no one can grow back from tiny pieces.”
“You’ve done this before,” Grant said. It wasn’t a question.