Update
This was a big update today. We've met Tenshi, an informant mentioned several times in the other shorts, and he started her on the track of catching our killer. In an ideal world, I'd be writing this story as a full-fledged mystery, but I don't currently have enough experience with that kind of story to do anything more than a short story with it. As it is, I think it's coming along well.
Current Word Count: 45,887
Scene of the Day
“Do you want another order? You’ll probably need it,” he
asked hopefully.
Apparently, Collin had the same intuition as I did.
I’ll admit that I was sorely tempted to delay it, but I
finally gave in with a sigh.
“Alright, then. We’d best be going,” he groaned before
offering me a hand up.
“Take the resta’ the day off. Go see Alex. Not like I’ll
be back in the office today,” I offered in way of goodbye.
Several minutes later, and we were tearing down the
roads, the tension returning as though it’d never been stalled.
“So, to the Avalon?”
“Not now. Might not be necessary, an’ I don’ really want
ta’ risk it if I can avoid it. ‘Sides, if the APD have nothin’, the best place
ta’ go fer news about a change in the local vamp power, it’d be someone who’d
want ta’ sell that kinder’ info.”
Collin released a heavy sigh at that, already knowing
where my mind had headed.
“I hate that guy.”
I knew the feeling.
The informant in my mind was a particularly special case
of psychopathy, who’d gotten on Collin’s bad side fast back in his bounty
hunter days, before he bought the Zodiac.
I didn’t exactly have much love lost for the man,
either, though I knew chances were good we’d still be seeing him soon.
“I know. You keep yer eyes on the road, I’ll make a
call.”
He nodded and focused on cruising toward the marina.
Outwardly, he seemed only mildly annoyed, but the sparks
of psychic energy that were rising like a heady cloud in my car suggested
otherwise.
After three rings, the line clicked on.
“Hello?” a rough, metallic voice growled.
“Good day ta’ you, too, sunshine.”
A deep sigh sounded, and I heard the phone crinkling
under a strong grip.
“Lugus. To what do I owe the lovely honor?”
“Get up ta’ the usual place. I’m runnin’ on a short
clock an’ need info.”
I could practically see his ears perk up over the phone.
“Oh? Well, it is a
good day, then, isn’t it? I’ll be there,” he assured with more than a hint of a
laugh before the line went dead.
Collin only got tenser the closer we got to the marina,
and more importantly, my warehouse.
The structure in question was a small, unimposing block
of concrete and glass, set far back from the docks.
If you didn’t know to look for it, you’d probably never
know it existed, set behind other, bigger warehouses as it was.
I appreciated that tree for the forest seclusion, even
if I only used it for the dirtier and more dangerous parts of my jobs.
Such as talking to supernatural informants who don’t
officially exist, from parts unknown in the Lower Realms.
As soon as we stepped inside, I felt his aura slinking
around somewhere in the mid-day shadows.
“I see you brought the pseudo-angel” the man sighed.
His voice echoed through the empty warehouse, and the
effect was more than a little creepy.
“Nice to see you, too,” Collin grumbled.
He turned in a circle, scanning the whole room around
us.
“I see you’re hiding in shadows like always, Tenshi.”
At that, the informant stepped out from the shadows with
a sneer curving his thin lips.
“Tenshi” was the name the man used, though I didn’t
really buy it.
For as long as I’d known him, I’d never been able to
figure out what, exactly, he was, much less what he could do or how he knew
what he knew.
Nobody seemed to, really, despite the fact that many
seemed to have his name in the back of their minds around the city, human or
otherwise.
I’d never caught even a hint of his age, or his species.
Even the fact that he worked within the Lower Realms,
land of demons and hellion species of all varieties, didn’t necessarily suggest
anything, other than that he was strong enough to survive there.
What I knew for certain, though, is that he was always
intimidating as hell.
At over six and a half feet of pure muscle, he looked
like he could split bodybuilders in half.
His eyes were the grey color of steel, set deep into his
sculpted face showcasing a definite African lineage somewhere in the bloodline.
They switched from me to Collin and back again, trying
to make an assessment of some kind.
Today, he’d elected to show up in a business suit,
though I doubted it took knowing him to figure out he wasn’t some normal office
worker.
“Usually, I have to come to you with any juicy info. To
what do I owe the rare honor of being called on by the oh-so-lovely Miss
Lugus?”
The way he said my name made me feel like a bug pinned
under a microscope, and I fought hard against a shudder.
“The Camarilla’s got a new Mistress. Who is she?”
“Oh? Well, I expected that nugget to take a mite longer to catch anyone’s notice,” he
murmured, seeming truly disappointed. “But how do you know I know who she
actually is?”
“It’s your business. Stop playing around,” Collin
growled.
“True,” he agreed with a shrug. “Better question. What
makes you think I’ll just tell you? Why would I want to put myself on that
psycho’s radar, any more than you do?”
In response, I pulled out several hundreds, and his eyes
lit with joyful greed.
“Four good? I don’ need a place, jus’ a name. A real, usable name, an’ ya’ never get
brought up.”
“Are you feeling stressed,
per chance, Miss Lugus? You sound a wee bit Celtic today.”
“I’ll be fine. We have a deal?”
“Hmm… Alright,” he sighed.
I didn’t see him move, but he was suddenly clutching the
bills and grinning.
That was a
terrifying thought.
“I can’t give you the big fish’s name, but word is that
she’s got a little pet named Cassandra Lane. She’d be what you’d call a… uhm…
friend with benefits, I believe. Kind of dim, from what I’ve gathered. Seems to
be very usable, and she is put to use
as the vampiress’s personal hitter so she never gets her hands dirty. Will that
be all?”
“That’s not what we were lookin’ for,” Collin sighed.
“No, but it’s a start. You asked for a proper name. I
don’t know the Mistress’s, so I’ve given you her number two, instead.”
He canted his head to the side, then, revealing a mouth
full of dagger-like teeth in a thoughtful grin.
“How long do you expect that to last? You know he’s a killer, right?” he laughed. “Doesn’t
that go against your morals, Miss Detective?”
“Ex-detective.
Think about tha’, the next time ya’ decide ta’ stick yer nose in our business
an’ not criminals’, Ten. Let yerself out, now.”
With a deep laugh, he stepped into the shadows.
The warehouse suddenly filled with heat, and then his
presence, and the warmth, vanished.
“I really hate
him,” Collin grumbled.
“Yeah, but he gets good info from all tha’ slinkin’ an’
slitherin’ he does. And now, we’ve got a place ta’ start.”
“That’s somethin’, I guess. Still, not a fan of a
psychopath calling me a killer.”
“He goes out of his way ta’ rile people up. ‘Sides, he’s
called me worse,” I shrugged.
He took a deep breath, and it slowly worked the tension
out of him.
“To the APD?”
“Do we have to? Jumpy cops make me a little-”
“I could look ‘em up in the office, but I don’t think I
want ta’. If I’m wrong about ‘im lettin’ us have free reign on the idiots, I
want the searches ta’ be at a place they’d be expected ta’ come from. If I’m
wrong an’ he gives a shite, he’s less likely ta’ bomb a police precinct than he
is my office.”
He paled at that.
“Not to dissuade you, but are you sure you want to go
through with this? That’s a helluva risk.”
“It should be fine. I’m usually right,” I quipped with a
smirk.
“An’ the rest of the time, you end up with medical
bills.”
Grinning, I made my way out of the warehouse toward the
car.
“Oh, hun, ya’ should know better by now. I always end up with medical bills.”
“You do have a
bad habit,” he agreed.
It was obvious that Tenshi’s jab was still on his mind,
but he pushed it down as we made our way out of the docks.
By the time we’d gotten to the precinct and its usual
state of chaos, small talk had managed to completely put the informant out of
his mind.
I basked for a moment in the phones ringing off their
hooks, and the police running around like chickens without their heads.
“So where’s your oh-so-cheery ex-captain?”
Shrugging, I moved to the first empty desk I found and
sat down in front of the computer.
Psychic impressions lifted the second I touched the
keyboard, making me aware of the fact that they’d both been mine, once.
The utter lack of melancholy over that was telling, I
think.
I hadn’t even started typing yet when a young officer
ran up, looking irritated by my mere existence.
He got even less happy when he noticed Collin hovering
next to me.
“Can I help you, ma’am?”
“Chances aren’t good,” I said with a shrug.
He turned slightly red as I began quickly typing.
Whichever officer was using my former equipment, they
were pretty sloppy about the security, which worked out for me.
“Ma’am, if you’re not looking for police assistance-”
“Oh, I am. Well, your databases, anyways,” I added while
typing in Miss Lane’s name.
When I started the search, I got an eyeful.
I sat back a bit and stared at the sheets with a low
whistle.
“Good news?” Collin asked.
I was about to answer when the officer waved someone
over.
Soon, Marshall was standing on the other side of the
desk with a massive frown.
“Lugus, if you wanted our systems, you shouldn’t’ve
quit. Why’re you here? If you’re looking to pass the buck back-”
“Easy there, Marsh. I found the underling an’ need some
more info,” I interrupted.
“So you know who the killer is?”
She sounded less than happy about it, which was
understandable, considering the exact reason I’d decided to not do the searches
at my own computer.
“Yep. Cassandra Lane’s got a hell of a sheet. We’ve got a good pick ta’ get ‘er on. By which I
mean, of course, you’ve got a good in
ta’ bring ‘er here so we can find out who she’s workin’ fer.”
“We don’t work for you,
Lugus. And now we’ve got our killer. That’s all we need,” she challenged.
“Yeah, that’s true enough. But, an’ I know ya’ already
know this, but I’ll say it anyway, she’s replaceable. The underboss ain’t. We
get ‘er name, I can take care a’ the rest a’ this.”
Glaring at me, she moved to my side.
After looking at the screen, she gave a low whistle,
too.
“You aren’t joking. We could book bind that. Murder,
drug trafficking, arson, suspected gang affiliation, all in the last five years…
She’s quite the busy little leech. Arresting her will be a pleasure.”
“It sure will.”
Standing up, I moved next to Collin.
“If she’s the patsy, I can’t wait to meet her boss,” he mused.
Marshall turned to glare at us, then, her complexion
paler than normal.
“Speaking of which, we don’t need that monster turning
the streets red. If he shows up, do you think you can take him?”
It said something about how much of an impression I’d
left her with while working under her, if she even asked that question.
The freezing fingers of dread dragging along my spine
said even more.
“Not sure. Never been stupid enough ta’ try. But like I
was tellin’ Collin ‘ere, he won’t care ‘bout one little fish in the pond, ‘specially
with how badly they screwed this up.”
“And you’re sure of that?” she challenged.
I really wasn’t, but I’d hoped pretending enough times
would make it true anyways.
“No doubt. He’s a psycho, but he’s a smart businessman.
Turf wars’re bad fer business,” I mused.
She remained silent, not buying it any more than I did.
Collin gave an uncomfortable shrug and nudged me towards
the door.
“Shall we?”
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