After notifying the chief that another riot had broken out, Reaper and I headed down to talk to our lead technician. We needed answers and Pecker was the only one likely to help us find them.
Pecker was a goblin who had a large office on the lowest level of the PPD building. The place was incessantly a mess. Papers were everywhere, machines or parts of machines littered the floors and desks, and there was a smell to the place that only a mother could love. He had a narrow face that was gray and covered with creases and wrinkles. His ears were pointy and long with hair growing out of them, and his nose was wide and flat, hanging down with a hook over his puffy lips.
In a nutshell, he was what you’d expect a goblin to look like.
“Ah, Piper,” he said with a mischievous wink, “I just finished thinking about you roughly ten minutes ago.”
“Ew,” I replied, knowing full well what he meant. “That’s gross.”
“How can love ever be gross?” he asked, batting his eyelash. Yes, I meant that as singular. Pecker didn’t have eyelashes, per se. Rather, he just had one long hair poking out from his left eye. “You are ever mysterious, my sweet.”
I leaned in menacingly. “How would you like me to attach your balls to a car battery and turn on the ignition?”
“Sounds delightful,” he swooned. “I’ll bring the wine.”
Damn it. I should have known better than to try those types of threats on him. He was an odd one. To be fair, though, I couldn’t help but feel that I’d miss it if he ever quit trying to get into my pants. No, I wouldn’t ever actually let him bone me…in fact, that thought alone was enough to make me want to throw up, but at least it felt nice that his feelings toward me were genuine.
It was just a shame that there was no attraction from my side of the fence.
“Anyway,” I said, removing my glare, “we have an issue and we need your help.”
“Anything for my favorite Retrievers,” Pecker replied. “What can I do for you?”
“There are riots going on in the main city center,” Reaper answered and then looked at Pecker. “I’m sure you already know about this, but we saw something interesting that we believe caused a new riot to begin.”
Pecker nodded. “And?”
“There was a fae wearing a hat,” Reaper finished, as if that explained everything.
“Right,” Pecker stated. “Well, that’s not a lot to go on. Got anything more?”
“What he’s trying to say,” I interjected, “is that fae don’t typically hide themselves. Plus, this particular fae dropped a device that sent out a massive energy wave. Almost immediately after she did that, the people went mental.”
“I see,” Pecker said, tapping on the tip of his nose. It dripped onto his lab coat with each touch. “Where was this?”
We gave him the coordinates and he moved over to his computer. His fingers flew across the keyboard so fast that they were a blur. Those were some fingers that could make a lady…
Ew.
I shuddered.
Within seconds, there were video feeds pulling up from all over the area, each in their own little window.
“How long ago?” he asked out of the corner of his mouth.
“Twenty minutes or so,” I answered.
The feeds were rewinding super fast. We watched as people attacked each other in reverse all the way until the peaceful moment before the storm.
Pecker paused the feed and started jumping from camera to camera.
“There she is,” I said, touching the screen.
He gently removed my finger and then wiped the fingerprint away with a cloth.
Once he was done with that, he zoomed in and went frame by frame as the fae lowered to the ground. Sure enough, right in front of her was a small disc. She pressed on the top of it and a thin green light began to spin.
“Agnes says she senses something is wrong again,” Reaper stated, jolting both Pecker and me from our study of the screen. “No, wait, she said that it doesn’t seem real this time.”
“That’s because we’re just watching it on the screen, Reap,” I noted.
“Ah, yes.”
So the turtle wasn’t all that brilliant, after all, though she did backtrack and say that it didn’t seem to be real. It wasn’t like she could see the screen from within Reaper’s pocket.
I rolled my eyes.
“Who’s Agnes?” Pecker asked.
I found this question odd being that Reaper considered Pecker to be one of his better friends. You would think Pecker would have been the first to know about Reaper’s beloved pet. Then again, there was something I’d read in goblin lore during my Retriever training that said goblins didn’t get along with reptiles. Chances were that Reaper had known this, too, as he suddenly looked concerned.
“She’s just an informant, of sorts,” I stated, realizing that I was protecting a fucking turtle. “Nobody you’d know.”
He snorted. “And she speaks to you in real-time while not even in the room?”
“Uh…”
Pecker spun around, giving us a serious look. “You guys on funny-weed or something?” he asked. “And, if so, you got any extra?”
I turned and looked at Reaper, giving him a dull stare. He opened his mouth a couple of times and finally his shoulders sagged.
With a bit of effort, my partner opened his coat, reached into his pocket, and gingerly pulled forth Agnes.
“Oh, cool,” Pecker said with wide eyes. “That’s a turtle, right?”
Both Reaper and I were confused by this reaction. Maybe goblins didn’t despise reptiles?
“Yes, she’s a red—”
“Red-eared slider,” Pecker finished for him. “I know. I did a bunch of reading up on these things when I was trying to get into the force.” He was studying Agnes while smiling. “Goblins aren’t known for getting along with reptiles, you know.”
“So we’ve heard,” I said, shrugging at Reaper. “You don’t seem to mind, though.”
“Not at all,” he trilled. “I think they’re awesome, especially the ones who talk to you.”
Okay, so that seriously caught our attention. Even Agnes twisted her head and gave Pecker the once-over.
“Wait,” Pecker chuckled while pointing at Agnes, “is she a talker?”
Reaper nodded. So did I. So did Agnes.
“Oh, that’s fucking cool as shit.” Pecker clapped his hands together. “You’re one lucky dude, Reap. Not very many talking turtles out in the world.”
“I didn’t know that,” Reaper replied. “I thought they were all talkers.”
“Nah, man.” Pecker dropped back into his chair and opened a new browser window. “You see, there are—”
“Stop!” I commanded. “This isn’t the time to discuss talking turtles. We have riots going on out there, remember?”
“Right,” said Pecker with a twinge. “Sorry.”
We got back to the task at hand, studying all of the different areas where riots had broken out. It took about an hour before we had everything we needed to present our evidence to the chief. We would have been done so sooner, but Pecker was holding Agnes with one hand while typing with the other. He still typed faster than most do with both hands, but it slowed our search down a bit.
“Listen,” Pecker said as we were about to leave, “it’s probably not safe for Agnes to go out with you on missions and such. If you want me to watch her while you’re gone, I’d be happy to do it.” He held her up. “She’s fantastic.”
“Are you sure?” Reaper asked, not looking excited about the idea. “I wouldn’t want to impose.”
“I’d love to!” Pecker then held up Agnes and looked in her eyes. “Assuming she’s okay with it, of course.”
Agnes nodded.
“That’s settled, then,” Pecker said, all smiles. “Don’t worry. I’ll make sure she doesn’t get into any mischief.”
Reaper and I walked into the elevator, leaving our lead tech along with the wonder turtle to their work.
“Isn’t Pecker just the greatest?” said Reaper with a look of elation.
I sniffed. “Honestly, Reap. You need to learn to choose your words a little more carefully.”
Chapter 8
Chief Carter didn’t look much better than he had earlier in the day. There were multiple pink bottles on his desk now, and all of them appeared to be empty. I couldn’t imagine drinking that much of the stuff was healthy, but the chief didn’t seem to care.
“I sent a small squad down to the Diamond District, thanks to your report,” he said tiredly. “What else have you got for me?”
“We think we know who is causing all of these riots, Chief,” I answered and then tilted my head to the side. “Well, not precisely who, but we’re pretty sure it stems from the fae faction.”
He seemed taken aback by that. “Seriously?”
“Yeah, why?” I asked with a frown.
“Just that in all my years on the PPD, I’ve never had to deal with a major fae issue.” He sat back and crossed his arms over his ample stomach. “They’re usually so self-involved that they don’t play around in faction politics.” He grunted. “They’ll still kick your butt if you go into their area, of course, but they’re not known for branching out.”
There was no arguing that.
I didn’t really have any fae as friends, so it wasn’t like I was able to keep a pulse on the things they were doing under the blankets, as it were. Actually, I didn’t really have any friends at all. I guess Reaper was as close to a friend as I could imagine. Most people were either co-workers or acquaintances.
Anyway, my point was that I didn’t hang around a lot of fae.
But it was my job to know the idiosyncrasies of each faction on a general level. This wasn’t that complicated seeing that they were all pretty unique in their makeup.
Pixies were generally assholes who cursed like sailors, vampires were generally assholes who believed they were better than everyone else, werewolves were generally assholes who believe they had the right to feed on whomever they wished, djinn were…
Okay, okay, so let’s just go with the point that all the factions were generally assholes.
Fae, though, had the distinction of keeping away from others. Stereotypically, anyway. They were similar to vampires in their belief that they were better than everyone else, but where the vampires leveraged this self-important vision to try and rule over other factions, fae pulled away from the rest of the world so as not to be tainted by them.
But that didn’t mean there wasn’t something nefarious going on under the covers, and that’s why it would have been helpful to have friends, or at least contacts, in the Netherworld who may have a pulse on such things. This was one of the many reasons that a beat cop down here had the advantage over a full-fledged Retriever. They kept up on things; we didn’t.
“So what makes you think the fae are involved?” the chief asked.
Reaper got there first. “Remember that when we reported the fresh riot in the Diamond District, we also told you we saw that fae detonate the charge?”
“Yeah, but that’s just one of them,” the chief replied. “While it’s still odd for a fae to get involved in things, it doesn’t mean their entire faction is in on it.”
“Agreed,” I said with a nod, “which is why we went to do a little research with Pecker. It turns out that every one of the riots had a fae on the scene, and each of them had placed one of those energy pulses on the ground and activated it.”
The chief chewed his lip as his brow creased seriously. He was obviously bouncing around ideas, utilizing his years of experience in the process.
“Was it the same fae?” he asked finally.
“No,” answered Reaper. “Unless they are extremely good at disguises.”
“The one in the Diamond District was wearing a baseball cap,” I pointed out.
“True,” Reaper agreed, “but that’s not much of a costume.”
It was for a fae.
Still, Reaper was right.
In order to look like all of the different fae we’d seen on video, it would require an amazing amount of makeup and adjustments. A wizard or mage could do it, but I found it really difficult to believe that a fae would subject themselves to such physical tinkering. Just the wearing of a hat was probably painful enough.
“They were all different, Chief,” I stated as fact. “Taller, shorter, thin, thinner…” There weren’t any overweight fae that I was aware of, only varied levels of thin. “Different genders, too. And not all of them wore baseball caps.”
“Some wore Stetsons and others top hats,” noted Reaper. “It made me consider purchasing a top hat of my own, actually.”
The chief and I gave him a funny look. To be fair, a top hat would probably suit Reaper quite well.
The chief grunted. “I don’t get it. What’s with the hats?”
“I just think it would make me look—”
“Not your purchasing of a hat, Officer Payne,” the chief interrupted. “I’m asking why the fae would be wearing the damn things?”
It wasn’t common for the chief to use strong language. And, yes, a word like “damn” was somewhat advanced for him.
“Honestly, hadn’t considered it,” I answered. “But if your officers can lay their hands on any of them, they should definitely try and figure it out. If there’s more to it than mere disguises, it’d be good to know that.”
I pushed over the images of each fae that we’d been able to get a decent photo of from the feeds. They weren’t crisp, but they were better than a composite sketch. If the chief could get those photos out, maybe the cops could spot one of them.
“We think that—” I started.
The chief held up a finger. “Incoming call.”
He cleared his throat and looked up, obviously listening through his connector. After a minute or so of “mmm-hmmm” and “right, right,” Chief Carter pinched the bridge of his nose and let out a long breath. Finally, he said, “Okay, thanks for the report. I’ll get someone on it.”
“What’s up, Chief?” I asked, having the feeling that something dire had happened.
He glanced up at me and then over at Reaper.
“Brazen and Kix are missing.”
Chapter 9
Anyone who knows me will tell you that I’m not the biggest fan of either Brazen or Kix, but they were on my team now and that meant I had to care about their well being. Besides, they’d proven themselves to be worthy cops over the last couple of months. I’d even have to go as far as to say they were assets. There were many other names that weren’t quite as positive, too, but that was a given.
“Where were they?” I asked while trying to keep my cool.
“The fae district,” the chief replied. “That’s where they were last seen, anyway. It was their assignment, and based on your recent intel it’s the only place that makes sense.”
“Fuck,” I said and then covered my mouth as the chief glared at me. “Sorry.”
“We must go after them,” Reaper announced, standing up and heading for the door. He looked back at me. “Are you coming?”
“I’m not even breathing heavy,” I replied in knee-jerk fashion. I then grunted. “Sorry. Bad joke.”
Reaper frowned. “I don’t get it.”
My gut reaction was the same as Reaper’s. We should immediately get out there and bring in the members of our team. But the chief had been pretty clear about the fact that there were only a handful of experienced Retrievers left. If we got captured too, that would cut down the numbers even further.
Plus…
“You’re not allowed in the faction areas, Officer Payne,” the chief stated.
That.
“We’re not?”
“We’re not,” I answered for the chief. “We don’t have the needed training and qualifications, Reap. And even if we did, you’re a reaper and I’m a human. Yes, we have badges that mark us as cops, but the factions have disallowed us to enter their particular areas.
”
“Racism, then?”
“Down here it’s just a way of life, Reap,” I reminded him. “Officer Dex was the last one allowed into one of the race-specific areas back during his training days, but that was long ago and what happened with him kind of sullied it for you and me.”
He creased his lips. “Then send in other Retrievers.”
I’d never seen Reaper speak so firmly to the chief before. It was like he’d grown a set of balls or something. I didn’t even know he’d had balls until Mrs. Donaldson tried to kick them through the top of his head. And now he appeared to be using them, metaphorically speaking. Maybe the old woman had activated them somehow? Honestly, I had no idea how men even carried those damn things around.
“There are already other officers on the way to check on them,” the chief said in a gentle tone. “We’ll get information from them soon enough.”
Reaper was clearly not pleased with this answer. I had never known how much team loyalty meant to him. It wasn’t like I didn’t feel the same way, but there were rules that…
I sat up suddenly.
What the fuck had happened to me?
Rules?
Since when did I give a shit about rules?
That was my team out there. Yeah, they were a couple of dicks, but they were my team. I should have been the one fuming at the moment, not Reaper.
“Chief,” I said, getting to my feet, “Reap’s right.”
“I am?”
“Brazen and Kix are part of my squad.”
“Our squad,” Reaper mumbled.
“Huh?” I gave him a sidelong glance. “Oh, right. Yeah. Our squad.”
A little flash of something crossed Chief Carter’s face. It was fleeting and barely noticeable, but if I were to make a guess as to what it was, I’d have to say…pride?
“You’re both forbidden to go to the fae area,” he said aloud while writing something on a piece of paper. “You have no jurisdiction in the Netherworld.”
He turned the paper toward us.
I can’t protect either of you. If you’re captured, the fae will be well within their rights to kill you.
“The rules are very strict on this subject,” he continued his verbal rant while writing on another page. “You don’t have the necessary training to enter race-specific areas.”
Deathly Temperance: A Piper & Payne Supernatural Thriller (Netherworld Paranormal Police Department Book 3) Page 3