At First Sight (Persephonii Waters Book 1)

by Melanie Brown

  On the board for discussion was the F.B.I.’s continued presence in the area, along with the rising viscous attacks on Para’s, the majority of which could be attributed to a group of Anti-Para-ists that had moved into the area after Fisher’s breakdown. They brought trouble and more work for the P.P.D. that already had enough on their plate. This meeting was going to be anything but fun.

  Persephonii’s Living Room, Lakewood, Washington., 7am PST.

  Having gotten in a little before dawn, Persephonii was abruptly awoken by Kyrian Havereaux who came bursting into her living area, shouting out greetings, wondering where she was and why she was sleeping in so late. Though the hours tended to vary and more often than not were long, she hardly ever slept in. Coming back from a trip, this one more tiring than the last dozen combined, then being cajoled into attending the P.P.D. meeting that had literally felt like it was never going to end, as F.B.I. agents and the local officers hashed out everything from jurisdictions to supplies, had sapped what little energy was left. She had barely made it into her nights clothes, and felt that she more than deserved a good sleep-in, only to be awoken by the boisterous Architect.

  Kyrian or Kyr Havereaux, Wyr-born and part of a Sleuth of Wyr bear's, was her best friend. Their life-long friendship had made Percy an official extended member of the large Havereaux Clan. Both families often said that Kyr and Percy, were practically in womb together as Kyr was about seven hours older than her. Though Kyr’s mother had remarried into the Havereaux family, the first four boys were officially adopted taking on the family name. The latest generation of Havereaux ran a nationally known architecture and construction company.

  Alaric, the oldest was a licensed Contractor and practically ran the Havereaux Construction Unlimited business with his step-father. Noah was an engineer, Benjamin ran the large equipment and could fix anything mechanical, Kyrian was a rising name in architecture and Simon, the youngest was in the middle of an interior design and H.R. degree. Their mothers had been good friends growing up, several years after Olivia had lost her first husband, the Wyr bear mother had fallen into a whirlwind romance with Mr. Havereaux. Mr. H. owned a substantial chunk of land out near the Washington national forest and was Ur to the Wyr bear community in Washington. Once they had decided to marry the result had been a happy, newly minted Mrs. Havereaux and a move across country. Persephonii had visited for the first few years until she had felt it was the right time to move as well, following her best friend and adopted family out to the west coast.

  The Wyr-bears were a respected name in the Para-community as well as Norm society, doing excellent work on all fronts. More importantly they looked out for their own. Kyr had apparently been talking to Madison again and had heard about all the excitement on the last case. The two liked to ‘discuss’ Persephonii, which meant gossiping about their close but perpetually single friend. The latest discussion had obviously been enough that he was there, coffee and breakfast in hand to hear all the juicy details... and to see if everything was alright, she was sure.

  Watching Percy sleepily maneuver the stairs and make her way to the island counter, where she pulled up a stool, he laid out the goodies he had brought foregoing commenting on her disheveled P.J. clad appearance. A few cups of different kinds of coffee, an assortment of baked goods, despite the early wake up she could almost kiss him.

  “Front lift’s out again?” It was less a question as he had let himself in the front door of the business entrance. The front of the first floor housed the offices of Argent Waters Investigations Inc. Expecting to see at least their associate Aaren and Percy up moving about, but he arrived to find the lights off and the space empty. Then, he had figured that she was up in her study reviewing all her evidence and working on some crazy ideas. But the front lift which was used more for clients was out, so he’d had to make his way to the large cargo lift in the back, and up to the top two floors where Percy lived.

  Her family had thought she was crazy when she bought the large five and a half story warehouse, but Kyr had seen the potential. She had hired Havereaux Construction to design and renovate the first two floors, mostly as office and business space for their investigation firm and the middle two for storage or future expansion. The top fifth floor went to common living spaces along with her study and above that a new fully constructed sixth floor, for living quarters. The basement had just been finished to house the more peculiar guests and store Waters paraphernalia. Renovations had taken almost three years, but the wait was well worth it. Percy had been living and working from the building for a little over a year, but the upper floors, especially her study area, were packed with eccentric, exotic and eerie artifacts.

  “I’ll call Benji and see if he can’t come over to look at the front lift,” she merely smiled at him over her coffee. She knew all five of them were busy with the business but it was nice being able to rely on them for troubleshooting and the like. She had waited to call, not wanting to bother anyone, especially since the last several cases had taken her away from town and state. But if Kyr harped at Benji than she could be guilt free, she would also bet he would be here within the week.

  “So where is it?” Kyr looked around the room as if expecting to see the Lamia carcass laid out. Persephonii now had little doubt who he had been talking to, as she had given the bare bones of the story to Madison last night. They tended to text and email each other about her to ‘share information’ as they put it. She knew it was to gossip. The two had become good friends over the years, supporting Percy and each other. It was nice to be able to say that her two best friends got along so well. In fact, if Madison hadn’t had such a strong attraction to Chase she would have mentioned Kyr as a possible suitor. Though it would have taken some encouragement, the two would have made a nice couple, as unlikely as it was to happen.

  “Where is what?” Not about to give the large six-foot five-inch best friend-brother bear, a break she enjoyed her coffee, grabbed a bagel slathering on a ridiculous amount of cream cheese and waited.

  “Come on, Percy. His voice was a mixture of exasperation and pleading, his eyes practically begging to give in.

  "Madison said you had brought back samples, and had pictures and everything....you didn’t send in all to Clio did you? I know you have this whole information sharing thing and use the Waters labs for this stuff, but you kept something... Right?”

  It was a wonder Kyr hadn’t joined Waters International himself, he was fascinated with Paras and especially the Others, those that kept themselves mostly separated from our world. Her younger sister Clio was a Lore Keeper, which was a combination of scientist, archeologist and librarian. Lore Keepers kept the Lore up to date, preserving old information and updating the Lore as new species and information were found. Persephonii’s Coda was a digital version of the Lore, whose paper tomes were the magical culmination of everything the world new about the Paranormal. It was said that the Library at Alexandria was created to amass information on the Para and had become the first home of the Lore.

  “For an architect you sure are interested in Paranormal investigation, brother bear,” his excited tone made it difficult to hold back her smile, but she managed. Barely.

  “I like to have an idea of what is out there... know thy enemy or whatever.” In truth the two of them had very similar interests, but Kyr had taken his love of old buildings and turned it into a way to help his family's business. Percy liked to think that by stepping away from the family proper, she had become a small independent beacon of the Waters family out on the West Coast.

  “So....How is.... Amanda was it?” Persephonii decided to change the subject, he deserved to stew a bit coming up so early, knowing that the meeting had ended well after midnight. She would have to talk with Maddie as well, she had given what information she could with the classified restrictions, but obviously their brief discussion had not stressed the 'classified' part enough.

  “Percy!” He was so riled he had started pouting, whine in full force.

&nbs
p; “Alright..alright.” She finished chewing her bagel while motioning for him to set across the table.

  “No, I didn’t take any actual pictures of the creature, though I did get a few of the surrounding areas,” before he could get too excited she continued.

  “But they contain evidence and the clients have put an official order to suppress the details on this one.” His large shoulders fell in defeat.

  “I can tell you that I have officially categorized it as a Lamia. The first to be seen in over fifty years, and though I can’t give specifics, it was terrorizing a village in Asia. After quite a few disappearances of both men and children, they called us in to investigate.” Kyr was practically vibrating in his seat.

  “What did you bring back? Madison mentioned samples.” Kyr's dark head was bent down, closer to the table, practically whispering like some mysterious being was listening in.

  “I managed to collect samples from a few things, skin, tissue and a strange mucus like substance. I got some pictures of the eggs...” He abruptly cut her off.

  “Eggs? Eggs!! The Lamia had a nest? How many were there? Was she cold or warm blooded? Did she eat the missing people?” A flood of questions came rushing towards her so quickly that she ate the last of the bagel while she waited for him to calm down.

  “Yes, eggs. Apparently the Lamia had been in the area for at least forty years, the last incident less than a handful of people had gone missing. This reemergence was a hunting and gathering expedition in order to lay her eggs and store food for her young when they hatched.” Kyr's expressing briefly changed from excitement to disgust. Percy continued, almost in full lecture mode, though Kyr didn't mind as he was one of the few people interested in her work.

  “Unfortunately all but two of the men were lost. But we were part of a rescue mission that found the missing children and got them back to their families. If you want to know the specifics on the Lamia you can read the update to the Coda when it's finished. I have pictures of the eggs and the Lamia's lair, though I didn’t have enough time to take one of her.” He seemed to take the let down well.

  “You can get all the exciting details from Chase at the family Christmas dinner. I’m sure he would be more than happy to talk to you about running for our lives through the cave tunnels. He was the one in the thick of things... I came in later.” She was sure the two would talk about it at some point anyway. Chase’s dramatic flair would be more suited to stretching what information they were allowed to share into a riveting tale.

  “Now..I haven’t seen you in over two weeks. Amanda?” She prompted again.

  “It’s actually Emma now,” he suddenly found the view out the windows very interesting.

  “Emma? Emma..... Baker? Wasn’t she the one that you had that philosophy class with a few semesters ago? Back when you were trying to be more... what was it? Worldly?” At his level stare she knew she had gotten it right.

  “Wasn’t she also the one that thought the Dali Lama was, in fact, a lama?” She couldn’t help it if she had an excellent memory, though at times like this... making Kyr squirm, did have its up sides. They talked about the upcoming Christmas dinner, and the fact that both families were very busy, sadly for the same reasons. The unrest in the area was on everyone's mind, causing strife amongst the Para communities as much as the Norms. All to quickly Kyr was called away on Bear duty and Persephonii greeted the day along with a list of chores.

  She spent the day on chore and running errands; catching up on mail, both paper and digital, meeting Madison for lunch to discuss upcoming holiday plans, she too was invited to the family dinner. And finally running errands that she had put off during their current case, which included dropping by a few things to Aaren’s apartment. She was pretty knackered by the time twilight fell and counted herself lucky that cleaning had not been on the list.

  The longest meeting of the day had been with Aaren Scott, the assistant that she had hired to take the load off the two investigators while they worked. Originally just a paid intern, he had proven his worth and had recently finished a small business degree with plans of getting his bachelors. The two talked about what had happened over the week, Persephonii had wanted to touch base since she had given him the weekends off so he could have time for his online college courses. As it was Saturday they still had one more day of no Aaren before he was back in the office. She was thinking about hiring someone to man the office seven days a week, or at least two part timers to give them more coverage, freeing Aaron for bigger projects. Many people tended to call her or Chase directly and she had noticed even Chase was getting tired of the influx of calls to their direct lines. She’d have to think about the specifics of who and when soon, as demand for their services grew, she would have to make sure their office did too.

  Chapter 4: Wyr:

  Those diagnosed with some form of the Lycanthrope Virus. each strain allows the Wyr to shift into a different animal species.

  Driving out to a crime scene edging the Mt. Baker National Forest, Snohomish County. 7:02pm PST.

  At dusk she had received a phone call from Chase, who had been asked by an acquaintance if they could drop by a new crime scene and give their take on things. So Charles had dropped her off in front of Chase’s house wishing her a goodnight. Both Chase and Persephonii had piled into Chase’s car to head out to the scene, driving down the back roads, while the two discussed the current office situation and the possible need to add another investigator to the firm. It was a relatively long drive due to the scenes location out by a small town, away from the larger areas covered by the P.P.D. Plenty of time to talk their way around the subject and decide not to decide anything right now.

  Out past the small town’s limits, closer to the edges of the Mt. Baker National Forest, the crime scene was little more than a bonfire-beer bust gone bad. Those surrounding the camp fires seemed to be suspicious of both Police and outsiders. Persephonii caught the heated energies of the Wyr, along with a flash of gold iris and knew, without peering over the edge of her glasses, that they had found a good number of the local pack. This far out of the cities, the acres of forest provided room for a pack to grow. Even if the whole pack was present at the scene she guessed them to be the largest pack in the area, at easily over fifty wolves. They could either severely help or hinder the case. From the tension and stiff shoulders of those present, she was betting it was the later.

  Persephonii liked the smaller cases, where she could take her time investigating and got to personally help those involved. Working with the local P.P.D.s tended to give her more satisfaction than with the larger institutions, who tended to want them in and out. Chase tolerated the low pay, but took the jobs as a way to foster good will and keep their connections with the local law enforcement well oiled.

  Carson Wright had personally asked Chase if they could come out. The local Sheriff had acres of forest to cover along with the nearby towns, the population density was too small to warrant a full Paranormal division. He was both Sheriff and P.P.D. detective. While there tended to be a bit of give and take amongst the different departments who were beginning to work more closely with each other in an effort to pull resources and cover more area, the camaraderie, often, didn’t reach out this far.

  Stepping out of the car, Chase wrapped his coat more firmly around his chest and muttered about being in the ‘ass crack of nowhere.’ Her excellent hearing caught pretty much all of his diatribe, so she gave him a level stare, trying not to smile.

  “Humph,” was all he said and walked toward Carson who was standing at the ‘Do Not Cross’ tape, waiting for them.

  “You got out here more quickly than I expected.” A little older than Chase, Wright had been reelected for his second term as local sheriff earlier in the year. He reminded Persephonii of James Garner from the movie 'Support Your Local Sheriff.' Tall and dark headed, he wore his station well and had met them on a case a few years back as an officer. Apparently the two investigators had made enough of an impression that Wright ca
lled them when he needed some back up. Persephonii liked the Sheriff he had a decent understanding of the Para's being so close to so many Wyr, and tended to keep things low key. Avoiding the large media circus like the ongoing Fischer case.

  “Percy’s better at navigating the back roads and took a couple of detours even I didn’t know about.” The two men shook hands as she ducked under the line, pulling out her notepad already in investigations mode.

  “And there she goes.” Wright's voice trailed off, as she passed the Sheriff with little more than an absent minded wave, headed for the body and loitering officers.

  Locals gathered around in groups, it appeared that it was some sort of local ritual to come out to ‘the Field’ as they called it, light giant bone fires and enjoy food, drink and each other’s company. Persephonii thought it sounded like a nice idea, except for the fact that this time had such a sad ending. From what she could hear, it appeared that things had gone south shortly after sunset. From a few witnesses close to the body, Mr. Neal Lawrence had just opened his first beer of the night, was merely sitting on a log, sipping and talking when he began to go into convulsions. Percy looked over the body as the local coroner was not due out for another hour. She didn’t touch anything but she could observe. And what she observed reminded her of the recent discussion with Maddie. Mr. Lawrence showed clear signs of having an allergic reaction just like Mr. Cooper. Though it was unclear if the two men belonged to the same pack as there were about five in the local area, Mr. Lawrence's death added new concerns on top of Persephonii’s already stacked plate.

  One body was a natural anomaly, two bodies made it suspicious. His neck was clearly swollen, and along with his hands seemed to be covered in hives. The red bumps looking angry even in the low light. Persephonii pulled out her glow-stone attracting attention from both the bystanders and officers, using the clear blue-white light to get a better look at the victim's face.