by Nina Perez
“Oh,” he said. It was almost a sigh. “I remember this.”
Before he could remember anything else, Mira pulled her hand from underneath his, removed a wooden stake from the bag, and used both hands to drive it through his hand and into his chest. She looked into his eyes as his skin started to crack. The look of surprise remained until his face crumbled into ash and fell on top of her in a cloud of dust.
Mira scooted backwards until her back hit the broken bureau. Breathing heavily, she ran her hands over her body, checking for injuries. She knew she hadn’t been bitten, but she checked anyway. Her back ached, but the worst damage seemed to be to her head. Her scalp still stung and she wondered if he’d managed to pull out any hair. I guess it won’t matter since I’m getting a haircut, she thought.
The thought made Mira laugh loudly. She tossed her head back so far that she looked like a Pez dispenser. She’d done it; killed her first vampire, alone. Slowly, she stood and put the stake into her messenger bag. Her hands shook the entire time. Stomping her feet, she shook the vampire dust from her clothes and then readjusted her ponytail. Mira considered using the bathroom to check her appearance and maybe wash her face and hands, but it seemed wrong to use the bathroom of the man you just killed – even if he was a vampire. She’d find a public restroom on her way to the train station.
She didn’t trust her legs to make it down the fire escape so she left the apartment through the front door, quietly closing it behind her.
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The Twin Prophecies: Origins coming Spring 2012
Detective Miles Tedesco entered the police precinct in Little City, pausing in the entryway to stomp snow off his shoes. He was a tall man, good-looking with brown hair and hazel eyes, and fit due to daily runs in the park near his apartment and a strict low-fat diet. He was disciplined in his professional life as well, arriving thirty minutes early each day to go over his case files.
He worked alone nowadays; his last partner had been retired a few months and he’d yet to be assigned a new one. Not that his case load at the moment required two. In fact, he hadn’t seen movement on any of them until last night. A call had come in from Philadelphia. A detective there had heard about a body pulled from the Preston a few weeks ago, a Jane Doe. He wanted to see if she might match a missing persons case he was working. Miles told him to fax over what he had and he’d look into it.
The fax was waiting for him when he got to his desk; middle-aged woman, white, lived alone, reported missing when she hadn’t shown up for work in three days. She’d been missing for almost a year. Her name was Angela Harkin. This struck Miles as familiar so he leaned back in his chair and called over to the detective two desks over.
“Hey, Johnson?”
“Yeah.” Johnson answered without bothering to look up from his newspaper. He was old, overweight, and six months shy of his own retirement.
“What’s going on with that house fire you working, the one with the missing lady?”
“Nothing much. Still open? Why?”
“Just curious. Say, you mind if I take a look at the file?”
“If you don’t mind coming over here to get it.”
Miles sighed, pushed back his chair, and strode over to Johnson’s desk. Still keeping his eyes on the newspaper, Johnson nodded his head toward a pile of folders in a tray marked, Open Cases.
“Top file,” he said. Miles took the folder and went back to his desk.
A few weeks ago, a house had burned down in west Rosemont. The owner hadn’t been seen since. Miles didn’t have a photo to compare, but the name was the same. Angela Harkin.
“You mind if I give this a closer look?,” Miles called out again.
Johnson would have liked nothing more than to have all of his case files given a closer look by anyone but him for the next six months. He turned the page of his newspaper and said, “Knock yourself out.”
Miles was already mapping out his course of action. First, he’d have to identify the floater and determine if it was the woman missing in Philadelphia. Then he’d have to ask around Ms. Harkin’s friends and neighbors… well, his Ms. Harkin’s friends and neighbors and see if he could get a photo of her and sort out whether she was the missing woman from Philly. But then, who’s the woman from the river?
It was a mystery indeed, but that’s why Miles Tedesco had become a cop. Whenever he was presented with a mystery, he wouldn’t stop until he solved it.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Nina Perez is the author of The Twin Prophecies: Rebirth, the first in a YA fantasy series. The second, The Twin Prophecies: Origins will be released in the spring of 2012. She enjoys spending time with her husband Donny and their children, Kali and Jack in their suburban Atlanta home. When she’s not writing she’s watching massive amounts of Doctor Who, and wishing she had her very own TARDIS. If you’re an adult, you can follow her on Twitter (@AuthorNinaPerez). If you’re a fan of The Twin Prophecies, follow her at @TwinProphecies. You can also find her on Facebook or by email: [email protected]