by Tarisa Marie
Kade takes the lead as I can’t even muster a word. “What happened here?”
“I can’t share any information with you at this time, sir,” the officer says, sounding bored. Kade clearly isn’t the first person to have asked this question.
“What happened here?” Kade demands in an ‘I’m out of patience tone’, very clearly using his persuasion ability.
The officers face changes from impatient to relaxed. “A young lady was murdered here last night. We’re still investigating but the body was in pretty rough shape. Looked as though a wild animal got ahold of it.”
I stand frozen in place, not believing a word I’m hearing. Jane, my best friend, was murdered last night?
“Has her boyfriend been notified, her family?” I ask quickly, and the officer turns to me, his mouth turning into a thin-lipped frown.
“Has her boyfriend or her family been notified?” Kade asks using his persuasion.
Officer Arnold’s frown becomes an unemotional line and he answers, “Her boyfriend has been notified but we were unable to locate any family members. In fact, her name is untraceable. We only found her boyfriend’s number through the call history on her cell phone. Not a single contact programmed into her phone, just three numbers on the recently dialed page.”
This strikes me as strange. Jane always talked about her younger sister and brother and why wouldn’t she have names on her phone contacts? Was someone stalking her or something?
Kade grimaces before turning to me. “Do you have her boyfriend’s phone number?”
I nod. “Yeah, of course.”
“Bring me her phone,” Kade demands and the officer leaves our sight for a moment before returning with a phone in plastic bag. Kade takes it from him. “We were never here. Have a nice day.”
The officer nods and turns to get back to work.
“You can’t just take that!” I whisper harshly to Kade in shock.
“I just did. Do you recognize this phone?” he asks, changing the subject. He pulls it from the bag and looks it over.
It’s a black flip phone. One of those things no one has used in over a decade. Janes phone was far more modern than that dinosaur. She wouldn’t be caught dead with that thing. I shake my head. “I’ve never seen that phone.”
Kade opens it and pushes a few buttons before pressing it to his ear.
“What are you doing?” I wail and try to jerk the phone from him, thawing from my frozen position of shock. Tampering with crime scene evidence is far from a smart idea.
He presses a finger to his lips to shush me. He’s far too tall and far too strong for me to snatch the phone from, and I definitely don’t want my finger print on that thing, so I give in and listen when he answers someone on the other line.
“Good evening. This is officer Brennon. From my understanding you’ve spoken to another officer recently, correct?” A beat of silence. “No, nothing further in the investigation. I just wanted to clear a few things up for our records. What was the relation of you and the deceased?”
I wait eagerly, not able to hear the person on the other line.
“Right. That’s what I have written down here. So, you didn’t know her well then?”
Kade continues to chat with the person on the other line before continuing with the next two numbers, giving them the same grilling. I tune it out as a bazillion thoughts race through my mind. Is Jane’s death my fault? Did a vampire track Kade to her doorstep?
“May, are you ready to head home? You need to rest,” Kade urges, startling me. When I don’t move from the bench I sit on outside the apartment complex, he lifts me up into his arms as if I’m a small child. I don’t fight him. For heaven sakes my best friend is dead, and my life is in shambles. If he wants to carry me, so be it.
When we get home I finally fish out my phone and search through my contacts. I press Darrel, Jane’s boyfriend and hover over his number. Kade watches me.
“The third number was Darrel’s,” Kade tells me. “He said Jane had no family. No brothers, sisters, aunts, parents, uncles, cousins, nothing.”
“She always talked about her brother and sister. I know she had family,” I reply in confusion. Darrel would know that. He had to have.
“What reason would Darrel have to lie?” Kade asks.
I shrug. “I don’t know I’m really confused.”
Kade seems to be in the same boat.
“I have to call him,” I whisper. “He’s a good friend and I owe it to Jane to make sure he’s alright.”
Kade nods and I hesitate over his contact on my phone before counting to three and pressing it with my thumb. I wait a second before moving my phone’s speaker up to my ear.
“Hello,” Darrel mutters into the phone.
“Hey, Darrel, it’s May. I just got the news,” I inform him and now I feel the waterworks coming on. Apparently, my shock decided not to last too long. Maybe I’m shocked out after everything that has happened lately.
Darrel takes a moment before replying, “Oh, May. I’m sorry, I should’ve called you, but I’ve been...I’ve been at the police station and the coroners, and I just haven’t been able to work up the courage.”
Something in Darrel’s tone is off, but I can’t place what it is.
“I’m so sorry. I know she was my friend, but you were her boyfriend,” I say through a sniffle.
He sighs. “I just can’t believe it, you know?”
“Me neither.” I sigh and wipe a tear from my cheek. “Has her family been informed?” I mutter. “The officer I ran into at her apartment wouldn’t tell me much.” Not a lie technically.
“Yeah, I got ahold of them. They don’t want to have a funeral or anything elaborate.”
I can’t help but think that Jane would’ve loved to have a fancy funeral, but I keep my mouth shut. If her family and her boyfriend think it’s best, then they’re probably right.
We sit in silence over the phone for what must be nearly five minutes before he says, “Look, I have to get going. I have a doctor’s appointment.”
“Oh, yeah, okay, right,” I ramble. “Uh, keep me updated and again, I’m really sorry.”
“Yeah, me too, bye, May,” he murmurs before hanging up.
Kade stares at me appearing dumbfounded which is exactly how I feel. With Kade having super hearing he’s probably heard the entirety of the conversation. “Did he just say he had a doctor’s appointment?” Kade asks skeptically as if he doesn’t trust his own ears.
I nod slowly.
Kade cocks a brow. “The day after his girlfriend was murdered?”
I continue nodding slowly.
Kade seems as confused by this as I am.
“Maybe he’s in denial?” I suggest with a shrug.
Kade scowls. “That’s just plain strange. He also mentioned that she does have family.” He purses his lips and looks at me straight in the eyes.
“What?” I ask.
“How well do you know this guy?”
I shrug. “Fairly well he’s been with Jane as long as I’ve known her, basically since senior year I guess.”
“Do you trust him?” Kade wonders next.
I nod. “Yeah, He’s a good friend but I have to admit that he’s acting strange.”
Kade continues to eye me but it’s as if he’s staring straight through me, thinking about something else.
“You don’t think he had something to do with it, do you?” I ask, but if I’m being honest, I’m actually asking myself this. As soon as I say it out loud, I gape at my own words. I know how deeply in love they were. He’d never hurt her.
“I don’t know what to think, but I think something about the guy is off. I have access to police records and shit. Can you write down his and Jane’s first and last names as well as anything you know about them that could help me search for them like birth places, birthdates, anything like that?” he asks of me and pulls out a laptop from small, slowly growing number of things to his name.
“You have access t
o police records? How? Isn’t that illegal?” I ask as I watch him open his laptop and take a seat at the table.
“Yeah. Comes in handy for us immortals sometimes. It’s a good skill to have so I got one of my dad’s computer guys to teach me in exchange for sparring lessons.”
I decide to brush this off. This is one of the least biggest concerns on my mind right now. “What do you think you’ll find?”
“Maybe nothing. Maybe something. I don’t know but it can’t hurt to look. Write that stuff down and try to get some sleep. You’ve had a rough couple of days and barely any sleep.”
“I can’t sleep after all this,” I argue. “Why are you doing all this work? Why don’t you get some rest too?”
“I don’t need much rest. Anyway, I’m doing this so we can figure out what happened to Jane. Those human officers are next to useless. They’re incompetent.”
“Why do you care what happened to Jane?”
He appears confused. “She was your friend.”
“So?”
“I care about you,” Kade says as if it’s obvious. “So, I want to help you find closure.”
I turn my attention to the paper and pen next to the fridge and jot down the information for Kade before handing it to him and sitting next to him.
“Thanks. May, you really need to rest. If you don’t go lie down, I’m going to use persuasion on you.”
My eyes widen. “You wouldn’t even if it worked on me. Not without my permission.”
“Try me,” he mutters while typing quickly and staring at his laptop. “Maybe this time, since you’re so worn out, it will work. Don’t tempt me.” He seems too concerned about me, like I could break at any moment. Maybe he has a right to be concerned.
I sigh. I am exhausted.
“Sleep, we will talk about everything in the morning, but you need to rest now. You’re exhausted. A few hours isn’t going to change anything.”
“I want to sleep, but I don’t want to sleep, but it doesn’t matter because I won’t be able to sleep anyway,” I admit, realizing that I am making no sense.
Kade glances up at me over his laptop. “Would you like me to try and help. Do I have permission?”
I nod in contempt. “Please. I’m exhausted. I just want to shut off my brain for a while.”
His eyes meet mine seriously. “Okay. Don’t resist it. If you resist it, it’s not going to work. We’ve figured that much out. You want to sleep, right? So don’t push me out. Go to your bed, get under the covers, and sleep, May, until I come wake you in the morning.”
I know he’s using persuasion on me, and I know it’s working at least a little when I yawn and find myself uttering, “I think I’ll go to bed and get some sleep now.”
Kade and I stare at each other for a moment and a small smirk makes its way into his lips. “That’s right, darling, go get into bed and sleep.”
I find myself rising from my chair and walking to the bedroom. I know what I’m doing and why I’m doing it, but I find myself unable to stop it. My mind is too weak, tired, and overwhelmed to fight it. I get into bed and I fall asleep nearly as soon as my head hits the pillow.
Chapter 8
“Rise and shine, sunshine,” a male voice sings.
I wake up in a daze and find Kade standing over me with a plate of bacon and eggs. I sit up and take them from him hastily, starving. I can’t even recall the last time I ate. As I devour the food, everything comes back in pieces until I remember everything.
“Did you find anything?” I ask finally after inhaling an entire plate of eggs in a matter of a handful of seconds.
“I did actually. I don’t know how to tell you this but there is almost nothing about them in the police record system,” he explains.
“What does that mean?” I ask through a mouthful of bacon.
He thinks about his answer before sharing it. “Those aren’t their real names.”
I pause, the bacon halfway to my mouth. “What? Are you positive? Why would they lie about their names?”
“That’s what I wondered, but there was something on Jane’s file that was marked. Jane’s fingerprint was an exact match to a woman from Houston, Texas who went missing seven years ago. Jane and this woman Tina are the same physical person,” Kade lays out.
I find myself shaking my head. “I get the feeling that this isn’t all you found out.”
He sneaks a piece of bacon from my plate and chews a chunk off it before replying. “Tina had terminal cancer, three weeks to live when she went missing. There was no way she’d have lived seven years.”
“What are you saying?” I push, not understanding.
“Tina and Jane had the same body, but I don’t think they were the same people. I think whoever Jane is, possessed Tina’s body. I think Jane is some sort of being that can possess other bodies.”
I gape. “Jane was not supernatural in any way. She was completely human. Trust me. I’d know if my best friend wasn’t human.”
Kade gazes at me as if he’s not sure he believes me which rubs me the wrong way. He can’t honestly think that I’m that oblivious, can he? I find myself scowling. Heat floods my cheeks and my head feels as if it could explode.
“If the existence of supernaturals was such an obvious thing, wouldn’t humans know about us?” he murmurs and taps his index finger lightly on the wall behind him as he leans against it.
I get up from my bed and snatch up the last bacon piece, pointing it at him erratically as I simmer. “You have a valid point but I’m just not sure I believe it. I knew Jane. I did almost everything with her until recently. I would’ve known.”
Kade remains quiet as I poke the greasy bacon toward his chest.
We’re interrupted by my cell phone ringing. I lower the bacon back onto the plate and snatch my phone from the bedside table. It’s Darrel. Without hesitating I answer. “Hello?”
“Hey, May, sorry about yesterday. I’m just shocked and you know...it’s all just crazy,” he mutters and places a ragged sigh at the end.
It takes me a minute to get words out. “Oh...hey, no problem. I’m still in shock too. I can’t believe it.”
“Can we meet up? Soon. I’m actually only a couple blocks away. Would you mind if I stopped over? I just need someone to talk to. Someone who knows what I’m going through.”
I don’t hesitate. “Yeah, of course come right over.”
Kade’s head snaps up from the spot on the floor he was inspecting, his eyes widening as he turns his attention to me.
“See you in a few.” Once I place the phone back down onto the nightstand, Kade stands up straight and struts out of the bedroom so fast I barely seem him move.
“What the hell are you doing?” I demand. “Don’t scare me like that. I’m not used to light speed.” I follow him out of the room.
Kade rifles through his small but slowly growing duffel bag and pulls out two long leather objects. I watch as lifts his pant leg and straps one of the objects to his calf and then stands and shoves the second into his pocket. I realize that they’re weapons, and I can’t help but glare daggers at him.
“Do you really need two knives or whatever those are? Darrel is harmless,” I reiterate for the last time.
“First off, he’s far from harmless. I’m rather convinced he and Jane are some sort of demons,” Kade rattles off as he throws his duffle into the porch closet. “Second, I have a lot more weapons on me than a measly two knives, May. Those two were just extras. You can never be too prepared for a demon fight.”
I gape. “Demon? You think my friends are demons? Are you insane?” As I speak the words I find myself off put. Demons. Demons exist too? Oh, hell. Why wouldn’t they? Why am I surprised by this?
“Yes to the first question. Maybe to the second,” he mutters in a grumble and starts opening cupboards in the kitchen.
“Well if they were both demons, wouldn’t I be dead? Aren’t demons scary, bloodthirsty monsters from hell or something? I’m not religious but I know a th
ing or two.”
“Where’s your salt?” he demands in a whisper.
“Having a hankering for sodium? You’re warm,” I tease. He moves to the left quickly opening another cupboard and digging through it. “Colder. Freezing now.”
“Where is it, May?!” he growls.
“You’re no fun. It’s on the stove. Right in front of your nose.”
He clutches the shaker and takes off to the bedroom at lightning speed. “You’re not dead because they must want something from you. How is it that your family has gotten so wrapped up in this and you don’t even have a clue about it?”
“My family? What happened to Daniel was an accident.”
“Yes, but what happened to your parents wasn’t,” he snarls.
I freeze. “What?”
He stops and slowly looks up to the roof, his back to me. “Demons stalk the Bryxx border. Every once in a while, they get bored or tired of waiting for Bryxx, so they harass or kill humans. You grew up on that border. You said yourself that your parents were religious. They probably believed in demons. If you believe in them, you can see them and they can hurt you. Even if you don’t believe in them fully, they can subconsciously drive you towards insanity. They probably killed your dad and lots of your family before that. They probably drove your mom to insanity.”
I have no idea what to say or think. “The demons are what you wouldn’t tell me about a few nights ago.”
He nods and then slowly turns to face me.
“What changed?” I ask in confusion. How much worse can this possibly get?
“You deserve to know what you’re in for. I have a really bad feeling about all of this. I put salt down here if things go south, get into this bed room. Demons can’t pass over lines of pure salt.” Kade suddenly has his index finger pressed to his lips. I follow his instruction and keep quiet. A few moments later there is a knock at the door.
I’m surprised when Kade lets me open the door. Of course, it’s Darrel, looking debonair as always in a suit. “May, it’s good to see you.” He stops a few steps after the door frame when he spots Kade seated at the kitchen table. “Who’s your friend?”
“I’m Kade. Who are you?” Kade mutters in a grumble.