The Mary Sue Virus: Beyond Death
Oct. 8th, 2017 04:54 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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marysuevirusTitle: The Mary Sue Virus: Beyond Death
Chapter Forty Four: Ripe (With Decay)
Fandom: Anita Blake universe
Rating: 18 and up
Warnings: graphic sex and violence, language, anything else i can toss in.
Disclaimer: the recognizable characters and places contained herein are the property of LKH. i'm merely borrowing for the sake of entertainment. no money is being made from this venture. the Sues are the sole property of their originators, Ginevra, Dazzledfirestar, Nanaea, SilverFoxChan and ladydeathfaerie. the concept and title of The Mary Sue Virus are used with permission from Dazzledfirestar.
Author's Notes: okay. this one is probably a lot gory. you have been warned
The Mary Sue Virus: Beyond Death - Index Link
"This was a goddamn slaughter and I've got you to thank for it," Dolph snarled, glaring down at Aedan with red hot rage burning in his eyes. She held herself ramrod straight and stared right back, refusing to let him see what his display of temper was doing to her.
"My doing," she echoed softly. It wasn't a question, but it invited comment anyway.
"Yes! If you hadn't spoken with the press, this wouldn't have happened!" he retorted. Oh. So that's how it was going to be. He wanted to get into a pissing contest with her? Fine. They'd get into a pissing contest. She'd drown him with the amount of piss that she carried around within her.
Aedan leveled a look on him. "And you're the expert in human nature now? You're the expert in preternatural serial killers?"
"I've got more experience under my belt than you do when it comes to murder and crime scenes," he snapped. More experience? Really? She pursed her lips and took a deep breath. No time like the present to burst his fucking bubble.
"And this is why I'm the one who had to tell you that your killer is going after lycanthropes? This is why I'm the one who told you that one of your killers, as in there's more than one person committing these crimes, is a lycanthrope themselves? This is why I had to tell you that you're dealing with a demon at the other crime scenes?" She looked him up and down and made sure he saw the disgust in her eyes when her gaze returned to his face. Snorted inelegantly in case he missed the look. "Some expert you are."
There was a handful of other people in the room with them. Zerbrowski and Detective Perry, a couple other guys on the RPIT squad. She swore she felt them go still when she spat out her insult. Hell, the entire room went still, as if the building was listening to them and couldn't believe what she'd just said. "You're walking a thin line, Kinkade. You might want to--"
"I might want to what, Detective Storr? Watch what I'm saying?" she broke across his statement, voice soft and low. She shook her head and rocked back on her feet, assuming a deceptively relaxed position. " What does it matter? Nothing I do or say will ever be good enough for you. There isn't anything I'll ever do that will exonerate me in your eyes. You will never, ever stop blaming me for not dying on the road that night in Anita's place. So let's just cut the shit and lay everything out on the fucking table here and now." She stepped into him, made sure to invade his personal space and let him know that she was not going to let him treat her like shit or intimidate her in any way. "I was well within my rights to talk to the media. I know the notion constantly escapes you, but I don't fucking work for you. I'm a goddamn Federal Marshal and I do not need your permission to speak to the media. You should thank your fucking lucky stars that I'm here to lend you my expert advice when you call for it. Because I'm the only expert you've got!"
Dolph stared a moment. He didn't say anything in response to her assertion that he would always blame her for Anita's death. Instead, he chose to beat on the other dead horse a little more. "You should have consulted me before you went off half-cocked and made cryptic statements to the press. What the hell was all that anyway?"
"A statement to the press. In case our murderers were watching. To let them know that I will find them and I will put an end to their spree." It was the only explanation she planned on giving him. It was the only one he needed.
He didn't believe her. It was obvious in the way he watched her. She could practically feel, burning in him, the desire to ask her more. But he held himself back. He did make sure she knew how much he blamed her for everything, though. "Well, it goddamn worked! This place is a fucking mess because of your statement."
Aedan sighed and barely kept herself from rolling her eyes. Of course he was going to lay the blame for the violence of the scene squarely on her shoulders. She didn't let it bother her, instead pinning him with a look that said she thought he was being incredibly narrow minded about the whole thing. "And it never occurred to you that maybe, just maybe, our killers are devolving? They've been on this killing spree for some time now. They've built up a lot of confidence that we can't touch them and will never find them. All of that confidence will go to their heads and fuck with their ability to think about things rationally. They'll get sloppy. They'll make mistakes." And when they did, Aedan would be there to correct their mistakes. Permanently.
Maybe putting an end to their killing spree would help ease some of the guilt she felt about it all.
"You really think our killers are devolving?" Dolph asked. His voice made it plain that he didn't feel as confident about that assessment as she did. "Hell, you really think they think about anything rationally?"
"Dolph, they sexually assaulted the victim with a hunting knife. Do you really believe they aren't?" It had been absolutely disturbing to arrive and find that there was a knife embedded in the corpse's vagina. That was an image she was never going to forget. She could only imagine what kind of pain their victim had been in before she'd finally died. "And, yes. I do happen to think they were capable of rational thought. At one point. Because the previous scenes we went to were careful and clean. Controlled. This one is chaotic and messy. The last one was similar. They're devolving. They've been devolving for a while now. Something set them off. Long before I gave my statement to the media. Until we catch them and ask them what prompted their killing spree, we won't know what prompted them to devolve."
He stared at her, as if he couldn't believe he was hearing such things come from someone he considered so young. He'd already accused her of having absolutely no expertise. Maybe it was time to disabuse him of that notion. At least to some degree. He didn't need to know that she was working with Anita's memories in her head. She was pretty sure that would freak him right the fuck out. But she could tell him a little more about the more mundane aspects of her background. "Now might be a good time to let you know, Detective Storr, that I spent my college years working my ass off. When other kids were going home over summer vacation, I was taking a full year of classes. I started my college learning before my freshman year even started. I worked my ass off to get where I am. I went through the Marshal program when I wasn't in class. And, in my spare time, I went on vampire hunts and raised the occasional zombie. So while I look young and may seem to have no experience, I can assure you that such appearances are patently untrue."
She paused a moment or two, waited for him to process what she'd told him. She knew that, ultimately, how he chose to view her was dependent upon his own personal opinions and beliefs. Her words and actions only formed part of the picture. But he needed to know, whether he liked it or not, that she was far more knowledgeable in this area than he wanted to give her credit for. "Now that we have that out of the way, Detective Storr, let's go back to the business of trying to solve these crimes. I expect we won't need to pull out the measuring stick again?" The last was asked lightly, but she was absolutely serious about it. She didn't want to have him questioning her qualifications to be on a crime scene ever again.
"Very well," he agreed with a brief nod of his head. "Since you're my expert and you have so much knowledge, what was the purpose of using a hunting knife to rape our victim?"
Aedan stared at him. Seriously? He was going to try and trip her up? Apparently he hadn't been listening. "He wanted to use her and humiliate her. And he wanted to inflict the most pain he could before she died. But he didn't want to sully himself with someone who wasn't... human. So he fucked her with a knife to prove to her, and himself, that he's the one with all the power. And he didn't have to get his precious human dick dirty in order to do it."
She could feel everyone staring at her, as if they'd had no clue she was so learned about homicidal maniacs' reasons for doing what they did. Or that she had as foul a mouth as she did. "Do you kiss your mom with that mouth?" Zerbrowski asked jokingly. Aedan turned to look at him.
She didn't know what was on her face, but whatever it was saw Zerbrowski frowning and taking half a step back. Several others in the room did the same thing. Zerbrowski brought his hands up in a gesture of surrender, his face suddenly filled with apology and confusion. "Sorry, Kinkade. It was just a joke. I didn't mean anything by it."
She stared at him a just a bit longer, just to get her point across. Dolph's voice, full of disapproval, cut across the awkward silence and gave the rest of his team the opportunity they needed to break out of their shock. "When you're done terrorizing my men, Kinkade."
She let her displeasure with his attitude show on her face. She was done with this whole thing. He'd been nothing but rude and condescending to her since she'd arrived on scene. She was tired. Tired of seeing death in bright, vivid splashes of crimson and flesh tones. Tired of trying to find some sense of balance in her life. Tired of fighting all the goddamn time. Tired of being blamed for what had happened here. And she knew, no matter what she said the contrary, Dolph was going to continue blaming her for that woman's death. "You wanted something else?" she asked quietly.
"Yes." He paused a moment to give her a stern look, then brought a pad of paper out of his pocket. "Since you got all biblical in your press release, I thought it might interest you to know that the verse left in Katie Harris' hand speaks of murderers and hell."
"Oh?" she asked, sounding only vaguely as if she was interested.
"Yes. Let me read you the whole verse. Maybe you can tell me why our murderer chose to leave this message in the hand of a child." Dolph shot her a look, then shifted his attention to the paper before him. "But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death."
She gave the appearance of considering the words before shaking her head. "No. Sorry. I've got nothing. I have no clue why the murderer would leave something like that in a child's hand. You might want to find yourself a biblical scholar and see if they can tell you anything."
Dolph eyed her for a moment. She wasn't sure if he was trying to decide if he believed her or if he was trying to find a lie in her words. So Aedan stood and waited patiently. Finally, Dolph returned his attention to his pad and pulled out a pen. She watched as he took a moment to jot something down on the open page, then he tucked both pen and paper away. The room was filled with a painful silence as each person present stared, waiting to see what would happen next.
The electronic chime of a phone shattered the stillness and seemed to act as some kind of catalyst. The room moved again, people hustling about their duties as if they'd never been still. Aedan wanted to find out if she could go home because she was about to drop, but Dolph was the one pulling his phone from his pocket. The look that came to his face when he glanced at it suggested that nothing good waited on the other end of the line. She held back a sigh and held onto the urge to turn and march from the room before he could put his phone away. Any call that brought forth a look like that likely meant her expert services were needed elsewhere. Maybe, if she was lucky, she could get to bed before the next millennia dawned.
The moment Dolph put the phone back in his pocket, the room fell silent. His eyes, hard and unreadable, landed on Aedan and pinned her where she stood. A chill crept up her spine. "We've got another scene to visit. Detective Perry, inform the rest of the squad we're moving out. Kinkade, I've already sent the address to your phone." His gaze slid away from her and landed on Zerbrowski. "Let's go."
Dolph strode past her without saying another word. Zerbrowski shot her a look, then followed after the other man. Aedan drew a breath and frowned. It was starting to look like it would be a very, very long day.
~*~
"It looks like a goddamn war zone," Zerbrowski whispered. Aedan was thinking it looked more like something out of one of those horror movie series made specifically to scare the shit out of teenagers. Or make them sick to their stomachs. Or was that just her?
The scene was so fresh that the room stank of spilt blood and internal organs. Of shit and piss. Of strong magic and strong fear. And of demon. It was the first time she could recall smelling demon at one of the crime scenes. Which made her think that there was something different about this crime scene something that hadn't been present at the previous ones. Brain switched on, she began studying the room surrounding her and everything about it. She tuned out the voices around her, shutting everything away until she was focused on each minute detail of the scene.
The body was, for now, a series of lumps hidden from view by a white sheet. The room was washed in so much blood. It covered the floor immediately surrounding the corpse, oozing out from under the sheet in thin streams that were becoming thick and sluggish. Splashes of bright crimson climbed up the walls and splattered the ceiling overhead. It didn't look like any arterial spray she'd ever seen. And it didn't look like it had been made by bringing a weapon or hand coated in blood back and up. So how had blood been splashed and spattered on the walls and ceiling in such a unique, distinctive pattern?
It took a while for her eyes to make sense of the patterns, and it took trying to trace them with a hand in the air to do so. And when it finally made sense, her stomach dropped to her feet. "This isn't like the other demon killings," she whispered.
Everything behind her stopped and she felt every last bit of attention turned her way. Slowly, Aedan turned to face the rest of the assembled group. She let her gaze flick around the room in order to ensure she was really seeing what she thought she was seeing before bringing her attention to the body under the sheet.
"Kinkade?" Dolph's voice cut into her thoughts, forcing her to shift her focus to his face. He looked vaguely concerned. She didn't know if it was because she looked bad or because he really didn't want to know how bad she thought the current scene was.
"Who was first on the scene?" she asked, eyes sliding toward the doorway.
"Hankins. Rookie. He's outside, trying to stop puking," Zerbrowski told her. When she looked at him, he shrugged. "First murder scene. Kid's never seen anything like this before."
"I need to talk to him. I need to know what he saw when he entered," she said, shifting her gaze back to the blood spatter. No one else spoke, but she heard someone's footsteps as they exited the room. If she could just figure out what was off...
Aedan was still staring at the ceiling when she heard a voice from outside the room. "I don't want to go back in there! That room is the stuff of nightmares!" The voice was young, and male, and terribly strident. She turned to look through the open doorway. She could see one of the other uniforms with a tall, skinny kid who looked like he'd barely just gotten old enough to shave. He honestly couldn't be much older than Aedan, but she felt so much older than him. And she felt horrible about asking him to come back into the horror, but she didn't have much choice. She had a theory.
"Marshal Kinkade is asking for you. Stop being a baby and get in there. You're a cop, for fuck's sake. Act like it," the other uniform ordered. Aedan frowned and made a mental note to have a word with him when she was done.
"Thank you, officer. I can handle it from here," Aedan said, already stepping through the doorway. The older officer gave her a look that told her he'd heard the coldness in her tone and he didn't like it. Not one bit. She didn't give a fuck what he liked. She outranked him. And she was meaner. But he said nothing, merely nodded her head and walked off. The kid stared at Aedan, eyes too wide and face too pale. He was afraid she'd make him go back into the room. And it was obvious that he'd really lose it if she did. So she compromised. "You don't have to go back in there. We're going to go into the room next door. If you'd come with us, Detective Storr?"
She put a hand on the kid's arm and motioned toward a door standing open just a few feet away. The kid headed in that direction willingly. Aedan stayed beside him while Dolph's footsteps echoed behind them. The three of them entered the other room and spread out so that no one invaded anyone else's personal space.
The newest victim lived in a small, modest house in a small, modest neighborhood where people knew each other and block parties were commonplace. It came with a kitchen big enough for a table for two, a living area, a bathroom, and two other rooms on the main floor. There was a basement and an upper level where the police had found two bedrooms and a crawlspace. The room where the victim had been found was barren of most furniture save a couple chairs, a bookshelf, and a table being used as an altar. The other room, the one they were in, was an office type space with a desk, a computer, and bookshelves loaded down with books.
A glance at Dolph let Aedan know this was her show. She gave the rookie a few moments to realize that he wasn't going to be bullied, waiting until she saw the tension start to edge out of his shoulders before she spoke to him. "Officer Hankins, is it?"
"Yes, ma'am." The kid barely met her eyes before shifting his gaze to his feet.
"I'm sorry that this had to be your first crime scene, Officer. How are you feeling?"
"I've never seen anything like this, ma'am," he told her. She could hear the horror in his voice, letting her know it would be so easy to send him running for the bathroom. She was going to have to take this one easy in the hopes that she'd be able to get the information from him that she needed.
"I know. And I'm sorry that I have to do this, but I need you to tell me everything you can remember about the scene when you walked into that room." She made sure to keep her voice low and soft, unthreatening. If he didn't feel like he was being pushed around, maybe it would make this whole thing easier for all of them. "Detective Storr is here because he needs to know the same things I do. I wouldn't ask you to go back over this if it wasn't really important. But I want you to know that nothing will happen to you here and that all you'll be dealing with are memories. Do you understand me?"
"Yes, ma'am." He didn't sound sure, but he was trying to be brave.
She offered him a smile. "Please. Call me Aedan. Ma'am feels too formal," she offered.
"Okay." He took a shaky breath. "Aedan."
"Okay. I need you to relax. Close your eyes. Breathe in deeply through your nose, Out through your mouth until you feel the tension start to slip away. Then you can breathe normally. But keep your eyes closed. I won't ask any questions until I feel you're ready. Is that okay?"
"Yeah," he nodded. Aedan fell silent, took it on faith that Dolph would do the same. The two of them watched as the rookie did as she'd instructed. His eyes closed, albeit reluctantly, and he took a first deep breath in through his nose. Let it out through his mouth. Repeated the process once more. And again. And again.
All in all, he breathed in and out for a steady five minutes before the tightness around his eyes eased. His hands unclenched, fingers straightening out until they rested almost limply against the material of his uniform pants. His shoulders came down last, his body as relaxed as it was going to get. Aedan hated destroying his temporary peace, but she had questions that only he could answer.
"Alright, Officer Hankins. You've gotten the call on your radio. Someone has called in some kind of disturbance. You show up at this residence and enter with your gun out, looking for possible victims and perpetrators. You search the house and find nothing. Until you enter the other room. Tell me what you see." Hankins' partner had given them that much information before he'd hurried from the room, looking as if he was trying to hold back the bile that wanted to rise up his throat.
"Lots of blood," the young man began. He frowned a little, but his breathing stayed steady. "I can see the body just laying there. It looks like so much meat. The room smells. Bad. And..."
He stopped to swallow. She watched as he shivered, just a little. "And? And what? What is it?"
"I don't know. I can't explain it. It just feels weird in here. I don't really want to be in here. My skin is trying to crawl off my body," he told her. Aedan frowned. She hadn't felt anything, but she'd been more focused on the blood than the atmosphere. She'd have to see if Dolph would clear the room and let her try and feel things out.
"You feel something that doesn't belong?" He nodded. "Tell me what it feels like. Can you describe it?"
"Its like... wrongness. It just feels wrong. Like something foul is tainting the air." Goose bumps broke out on Aedan's skin. She didn't like anything about this scene. It was all just plain wrong.
"Tell me, Officer Hankins. Do you get these feelings a lot? Have they ever helped keep you or someone you know from getting hurt?" she asked. She felt Dolph look her way, obviously wondering about her change in questioning.
"Ma'am?" the officer asked, his eyes popping open to stare at her.
"Do you get these kinds of feelings often? Where you enter a room and something doesn't feel right. Or maybe you plan on doing something, but you get this feeling that doing so would be bad, so you go do something else entirely? You know, those moments where your brain just says 'Nope!' and runs the other direction. You don't know why it does that, but you know its right and so you do the same thing?"
He took a moment to really consider her words before shrugging his shoulders as if it wasn't as big a deal as she was making of it. "Ever since I was a kid. Sometimes, I'd just know something bad was going to happen before it did." There was a touch of defensiveness in his voice, as if he was challenging her to make something of it. She suspected someone had done that to him more than once as he was growing up.
"That is an excellent instinct to have, Officer Hankins. I believe you're sensitive. Its kind of like being a psychic, but without the extra shit that will drive you crazy." She flashed him a smile before looking at Dolph. "You might want to see if you can get him moved to your squad. He'd be a good asset to have on scenes like this."
"I'll look into it. But only if Officer Hankins wants to make the change." Dolph made sure he looked at the young man in question with the last of his statement.
Aedan nodded at that, then turned back to Hankins. "Close your eyes again. Center yourself. You've just entered the scene of the murder. You've felt something bad that you do not like. Tell me what you see."
The young man closed his eyes as he was told, took a deep breath to fortify himself. Aedan remained silent as he took a moment to bring his breathing back under control. As he went back into the nightmarish memories to try and give her what she was looking for. "There are gouges and specks on the floor, just here." One hand pointed to a spot on the floor. Aedan made note of where it would be in the other room so that she could check it out when they returned. "I see... a flash of something in the beam of my flashlight. Under the table against the back wall."
"Can you tell what it is? Do you go look at it?"
"Too much blood between me and it. I don't want to contaminate the scene. Johns did that once. Sarge reamed his ass but good." The answer saw Aedan holding back a faint smile. The kid was smart. She shot a look at Dolph in question. He nodded, letting her know he understood.
She shifted back to Hankins. "What else?"
"Blood is dripping from the ceiling. Pieces of flesh are falling with it. Everything is covered in bright red. Beyond that, there isn't much else to see but the body and its..." the young man's face paled and she watched his Adam's apple bob when he swallowed hard. "It looks like ground meat. I've never seen anything like it. I..."
His words trailed off as his face went from ashen to green. Aedan broke in on his thoughts before he could finish thinking them. She didn't want him to throw up again. She could imagine he already felt bad enough about it and someone had likely given him a ration of shit for being human and reacting to a bad situation. "That's all I need, Officer. Thank you for your time and your help. You probably don't think you did much, but trust me. You did."
He blinked his eyes open and glanced at her in disbelief. Then his gaze sought out Dolph's, silently asking if he could go. "Back to your post, Officer," Dolph rumbled. The kid nodded his head and mumbled a brief thanks, then hurried from the room.
"See to it that he talks to someone," Aedan said softly.
"We've got a good shrink who works specifically with RPIT. I'll see to it that Hankins sees her," Dolph replied. Aedan nodded and started for the door. "Who do you talk to, Kinkade?"
She shrugged one shoulder negligently. "The bottle of rum I keep in the fridge is a good listener. It doesn't judge. And I only have to pay for its services once. Now let's head back to the body. I need to check some things. And I'm going to need you to clear the room for me. Just for a few moments. If that's okay with you."
He gave her a look. "You're the one who reminded me not that long ago that you're a Federal Marshal and you can do what you please without my permission."
Aedan took a breath. Counted to fifty. Took another breath. "I am a Federal Marshal. And I can do as I please. However, I don't really want to alienate you or your men because I might have a chip on my shoulder. I will not apologize for my behavior. But I will explain it with the statement that I've been having a really shitty life lately and that tends to make me cranky."
She thought she saw his lips twitch.
The two of them returned to the crime scene in silence. She let Dolph go before her so she could take a moment to study the room, to try and see it as Officer Hankins must have when he'd looked through the door. There were several crime scene markers against the far wall, but none where he'd indicated he'd seen the gouges and the specks. She saw one, off by itself, under the table. Next to it, gleaming dully in the shadows crowded around it, was the item Hankins had said he'd seen. Aedan had to squint, but she felt confident it was a knife of some sort.
"I need everyone to clear the room. For just a few minutes. Marshal Kinkade would like it to do... whatever it is she needs to do," Dolph said, bringing everyone's attention first to him and then to Aedan. She was too busy staring at the spot Hankins had indicated to really notice, but she felt each of them as they passed her by. Dolph was the last one, stopping beside her so that he could speak. "Just a few minutes, Kinkade. And don't touch anything. We're not done documenting the crime scene."
"Won't touch a thing," she murmured, focus still on the floor. Dolph continued by until she stood in the doorway to a room that was filled with blood and death and a fresh corpse.
The first thing she did was move to where Hankins had said he'd spied something. As he'd said, there were gouges in the wood flooring, specks of something dark scattered beside them. She made sure that her gloves were in place before putting a hand on a section of the floor not marked and leaning down until her face was almost touching the wooden surface. The gouges were fresh. And deep. And she could see a faint point at the very bottom of them. If she had to hazard a guess, she'd have to say that the demon dug his feet into the floor. For some reason. Wondering why that would be, she turned her focus to the specks Hankins had mentioned in his brief interview.
The specks were easy to see, scattered beside the gouges in copious amounts. They were dark, like the ones she'd seen at the college boys' house. And they were wet. She could see the light reflecting off them. Getting as close to the floor as she could, she took a deep breath. Sulfur. She could smell it emanating from the specks. "You're going to want your crime scene team to take photos here. Take samples from the gouges as well as the blood."
"Blood?" Dolph asked.
"Demon blood. This is the second time I've found it at a crime scene. The first time was the college boys' house. One or all of them knew how to hurt it. Our victim here knew how to hurt it, as well. These gouges are deep. That suggests that there was some kind of fight."
"A fight? Why do you say that?"
"Because," Aedan said as she got to her feet. "There's a knife under the table and I can tell from just a glance that it isn't an athame. Quiet a moment. I need to see if I can feel anything."
"Is she for real?" one of the cops asked, not bothering to lower his voice. She didn't bother responding, instead closing her eyes so that she could try to find any kind of energy on the air. Anything that might tell her something about the events that happened prior to the arrival of the police. It took a little longer than she'd like, but she finally caught a sense of the wrongness that Officer Hankins had mentioned. Aedan tipped her head to the side, as if listening, hoping that shifting her mental perspective would help her put a name to the wrongness. If she could figure out what it was and why it was there...
It came to her the way revelations sometimes did, out of the blue and with little fanfare. That sense of wrong belonged to the remnants of a spell. If she focused intently enough, she could just feel the last bits of it hanging on the air. The edges of the spell were tattered and torn, as if something had shredded it. Shredded... "Or tore through it," she whispered to herself. Eyes popping open, Aedan let her gaze turn to the door and measure the distance between it and herself.
Only a half dozen steps. Maybe a few more. She retraced her path to the door, concentrating on seeking out that sense of wrongness. She couldn't feel it by the door. But the deeper she went into the room, the closer she got to the spot where the gouges were, the stronger it got. How was that even possible?
Careful of where she put her feet, Aedan made her way around the pool of blood. Avoided droplets of it as she headed toward the table. Blood had spattered the victim's altar, staining crystals and sage and all of the other trappings of their faith. The table's cloth, a bright and welcoming green with Celtic designs done on it in white, was covered in flecks of muddied brown where the blood had dried. She went down on hands and knees and peered under the table at the knife that rested there.
It was definitely not an athame. The knife had a long, wicked blade that looked sharp even in the shadows. Said blade was stained with dark wetness, suggesting that it had managed to find purchase in its victim. An indrawn breath told her that the victim had been the demon. That gave her pause. How had the victim inflicted damage upon a demon? She'd been led to believe that such a thing was impossible. But even the experts didn't know everything in their chosen fields. Interesting.
She reached a hand under the table, halting its forward advance just short of actually touching the blade, and let her fingers hover just over the surface of the weapon. She could feel magic rolling off it, some kind of spell or maybe a blessing that made it deadly to demon-kind. Whatever it was that had been used, it was responsible for the damage the demon took.
Damage and pain were as good explanations as to why this crime scene looked different. Time to prove her theory correct. Time to look at the body.
It was hard to approach the corpse without stepping in the blood that had been spilled from it. She watched where she put her feet, made sure they didn't go anyplace they shouldn't, until she was close enough to the body to squat and take hold of a corner of the sheet. It lifted away slowly, reluctantly, the blood stuck to it trying to keep it in place. She almost dropped the sheet right away before fully viewing the corpse. It took everything she had in her to maintain her hold on the sheet.
The body was so much meat, the head a misshapen mass on the stem of the neck. Somehow, the demon had managed to pull the victim's eyes from their sockets without completely ripping them free, so both spheres hung limply against sagging cheeks. The torso had been shredded open, exposing internal organs to view. She could see bones that had been broken, jagged ends poking through flesh where it hadn't been torn away. The heart was missing. So were the lungs. The abdomen had been pierced by the demon's claws, the bowel perforated. Lifting the sheet allowed the foul stench to waft up into air. Both arms and legs were shattered. And it looked as if one shoulder had been pulled from its socket.
Aedan covered the body with the sheet again, took one last look at the ceiling. "There was a fight here."
Her words brought everyone's gaze swinging her way. "A fight?" Dolph asked. Aedan nodded and moved back to where the tattered remnants of the spell still hung on the air.
"The demon didn't come in through the front or back door, did it?"
If Dolph thought her question was out of the blue and misplaced, he said nothing about that. Instead, he shook his head at her and glanced calculatingly at her. "No. He didn't. How did you figure it out?"
"Officer Hankins mentioned a wrongness. It starts here," she told him, motioning to the spot beside her. Beside where the gouges and blood specks were. "The demon never came through the door. It more or less materialized right here. I can feel the remnants of the victim's wards. I can also feel the spell that allowed the demon to appear here. That's what Hankins was sensing. That spell ripped the wards apart like wet tissue paper."
"How is it possible that the demon could simply appear in the victim's home?" This question came from Zerbrowski. His attention was intent and he, like Dolph, had a pad of paper and pen in hand in order to take notes.
"The summoner has been here," Aedan replied. "Its likely the summoner knew the victim and the victim knew the summoner. But that isn't the only odd thing about this scene."
"The fight?" Dolph was giving the room another look, likely with a new set of eyes.
"The fight. I think the victim knew he was going to be a victim. I think he was ready for the demon." She motioned to the knife, still under the table where it had come to rest after being knocked from the victim's hand. "He took that knife to the demon."
"You said it wasn't an athame," Dolph reminded her. Aedan nodded and turned her attention back to the table that served as the altar. Sitting on the back, on a raised platform, was an ornamental knife that served as the victim's athame.
"The athame is there on the table. If you look at it closely, it will look more ornate than functional. Its used to represent one of the practitioner's chosen deities. Generally the male aspect. Its strictly a ritual blade, so it mostly looks pretty." She motioned to the blade under the table again. "That blade is wicked and long and sharp, meant to inflict damage. I would have a witch give it a good once over, but I'm more than willing to bet its been bespelled or blessed. That knife did damage to the demon. Its blood is on the blade. And on the floor here." She motioned to the spot at her feet where the dark droplets stained the wood.
"So you're saying that the victim hurt the demon?" Dolph's voice sounded contemplative.
"Initially. When it first arrived. Maybe the victim was trying to keep the demon at bay so they could trap the demon in a circle. I can't say for sure. It takes a while to cast a circle. And you need something to draw the circle out with on the ground. Salt. Chalk. Blood. But it can't be closed. There needs to be an opening so whatever is going to be inside of it can actually step into it. So maybe the victim was trying to drive the demon back into a circle he'd made on the floor. But the attempt failed. The attack enraged the demon."
"How do you know that?" This from Zerbrowski.
She motioned to the room behind her. "Because the blood spatter on the ceiling suggests that the demon picked the victim up by one arm and slammed him into the ceiling and floor repeatedly until the man's skull was crushed. And there's rage in the way the wounds were inflicted upon his torso. The victim hurt the demon. His manner of death was the demon's response."
"Holy shit," someone muttered.
Dolph looked grim as he surveyed the scene yet again. "Is there anything else you can tell me?"
"I'm sure you've likely already figured it out, but I'm almost positive that all our victims are members of the same coven."
Dolph nodded. "Ellie Wilson's papers confirm it. We spoke with the remaining members of the coven after her murder to let them know that it was likely they were all on the summoner's list for some reason or another."
"That would be how this man knew he was going to be targeted. Which means the name of our killer is somewhere in those papers."
"We're still tracking down the names of people mentioned who were not actual members of the coven," Dolph admitted. He didn't sound happy about that. Aedan nodded and sighed. Now that the rush of finding a clue had left her, she was tired again and wanted nothing more than to go back to her apartment and collapse for the rest of the day.
"Is there anything else you need of me?" she asked, working at holding back her yawn. And the growing horror.
"I think I have everything I need. Go home and sleep. You look like hell," Dolph replied. Aedan nodded and headed for the door. She was so looking forward to her bed. Assuming, of course, her dreams didn't throw images of her failures at her. The last thing she needed was to see the corpses laid out for her again. Once was more than enough.
~*~
She'd barely dragged herself out of her car when she saw the jeep parked a few spaces down and groaned. Rhiannon was sliding out from behind the steering wheel. The last thing she wanted to do was discuss anything involving a certain master vampire with the other woman. A moment after Rhia climbed from the car, the passenger door opened and Christophe emerged from the vehicle. Hmmm. What were both Rhia and Christophe doing there? There was only one way to find out.
Trying to push aside the exhaustion and screw up her courage, Aedan drew her things from the car. The vehicle's door closed with a soft thud. She thumbed the lock button her key fob and started across the parking lot toward them. She was acutely aware of Bobby Lee watching the goings on from his black SUV. Naturally he'd followed her to and from the crime scene. No one had said anything about the presence of the vehicle as he'd waited outside for her to finish doing her job. To be honest, she'd been glad that he'd been behind her on the way back. She was so tired, she'd been afraid of falling asleep behind the wheel.
Rhia and Christophe met her halfway. "Jesus, Aedan. You look like shit. When's the last time you slept?"
"Yesterday? I think?" She shrugged as if it was no big deal. Rhia shot a look toward Christophe, who in made a point of putting a hand on Aedan's arm.
"Then we will make our business quick. And you will sleep when we've left," he pronounced in his deep, rumbling voice even as he prodded her forward. Aedan bit back a sigh and started forward. Rhia fell into step behind her, as did Christophe, and she wasn't sure if they were behind her simply so they could follow her to her apartment or if they were behind her so that they could be sure she wouldn't try and slip away.
She slipped the keys from her purse, proud of the fact that she didn't fumble the ring from fingers made slow and numb by too much shock and too little sleep. It took but a moment to undo the locks on her door, then she was letting her guests into her apartment. She left them to look around at the place while she stowed her weapon and her zombie raising kit. When she rejoined them, Rhia was perched on one of the island stools and Christophe was banging around in her kitchen cupboards. Aedan sent Rhia a questioning look.
"He's looking for a tea kettle," Rhia supplied.
"He'll be looking for a long time. I don't have one," Aedan told them. Christophe straightened from looking in the depths of one of her cupboards in order to give her a very insulted look.
"You, child, are a heathen," he told her. It brought a smile to Aedan's face. "But no matter. I am accomplished in the making of tea. You can go change into something more comfortable while I boil water and brew tea. Then we'll explain while we're here over a hot cup of chamomile."
"I don't drink tea," Aedan told him. Christophe sent her a stern look this time.
"Today you drink tea." His voice came out filled with parental authority. Then it, and the look on his face softened. "You look as if you need it desperately. It must have been a bad night. Now go. Put on something more comfortable."
She rolled her eyes at him, but made for the bedroom. She was glad to be getting out of her work clothes. Christophe had no idea just how bad the night had been. She didn't have any plans to inform him, either.
It felt like taking fifty pound plate armor off when she removed her suit coat and then her blouse. Maybe, in a way, it was exactly like that. Her dress clothes were her armor against the world when she was working, a way to protect herself from the horrors she saw. Not that it worked the way she'd like it to, but shedding her work clothes helped remove some of the weight that had been resting on her shoulders the entire day. She left the coat, the blouse, and her skirt laying in a pile on the seat of the cushy chair in her bedroom, then slipped into a pair of leggings and a baggy t-shirt. She took a moment to have a cursory look in the mirror, frowning at what she saw, then headed out to rejoin her guests.
The smell of steeping tea teased her nose when she stepped from her bedroom, mingling with the earthy, green smell she associated with Rhiannon and a spicy, woodsy smell she suspected was Christophe. The two were talking over the bar, their tones low and conspiratorial. It was more than enough to tell Aedan she probably wasn't going to like this discussion. That feeling was intensified when Christophe saw her, nodded his head, and the two of them fell into painful silence. Definitely not going to like this discussion.
She made her way to the other stool and took it, figuring Christophe would have already claimed it had he planned to do so. She'd barely settled her butt in the chair when she found a plate pushed before her, a freshly made sandwich resting on it. Christophe gave her a stern look that told her to eat or else, then went to check on their tea. Aedan didn't argue, just picked the sandwich up and took a bite. And realized she was hungry.
It wasn't much longer before Christophe set a mug of tea before her. He set a second before Rhia before turning back to fetch the remaining mug for himself. Then he leaned against the counter on and stared at them both, eyes shifting back and forth. "You, drink your tea," he said to Aedan before turning to Rhia. "You, tell your tale."
Rhia took a sip of her tea, then set the mug down and stared at Aedan for a moment. Obviously searching for a place to start. "You know I have visions."
Not where she expected the other woman to start. But okay. Aedan nodded. "You had one at the crime scene."
The reminder saw Rhiannon shuddering faintly. She took another sip of her tea, as if using the hot liquid as fortification. "I had another one, just about a week later. A dream, actually. It was bad enough to wake me."
Aedan stared a minute. "And?"
"Well, didn't think anything special of it until recently. At first, I thought I'd had it because of the visit to the crime scene."
"You saw the demon in your dream?"
"Yes. The demon was there. So was I."
Aedan set her cup of tea down and frowned. "Rhia. You should have told me."
Rhiannon held up her hands in a gesture that said she knew she'd fucked up. Aedan sighed and motioned for her to continue her story. There was obviously more to it. "At the time, I didn't know what it meant. The only thing I knew for certain was that I saw my own death."
"Rhia!"
"Now I think I understand!" Rhiannon pushed on before Aedan could work up a full head of steam. She sipped her tea, stalling her next words in an obvious move to get her thoughts in order. She was careful to avoid eye contact as she did so, obviously afraid of what she'd see in Aedan's face if she looked at it. "I had another vision just the other day. I know why the demon is going after the victims its choosing."
"They're all in a coven," Aedan said. There was no need in keeping that bit of news secret. She had no doubt that one of the more diligent members of the press was already working on digging that bit up. No doubt it would be on the six o'clock news any day now. "That's how the summoner is choosing his victims."
"That's not the only way, Aedan. They're all natural witches. Every member of that coven is a natural witch."
Rhiannon said it with such conviction that Aedan could do nothing but sit back against the stool and stare at her. "You're sure?" she finally asked. She was going to have to call Dolph and let him know this little bit because it was an important part of the summoner's MO.
"Every last one of them, Aedan. That's why he's going after them. I don't know why I'm sure of that, but I am. The summoner is sending the demon against the members of the coven because they're all natural witches."
Aedan regarded her for a few moments, considering what Rhia had said. And what she hadn't said. Yet. Something told Aedan she knew what was coming and she wasn't going to like it. "Tell me about this vision, Rhia."
"Its been a series of them, Aedan. What do you want to know?"
"Not the ones that made you realize the coven is made up of natural witches. The one involving you and the demon and your own death. Tell me about that one." Aedan made sure that her voice was low, so that Rhia knew she meant business.
"Aedan, I don't--"
"Tell me, Rhia."
"Tell her, child. She deserves to know everything," Christophe said gently. "And you, drink your tea." The last was less gently. Aedan rolled her eyes and picked up the mug to sip at her tea. She shot Christophe a look that asked if he was happy, then gave her attention back to Rhia.
"I was watching the events of the dream unfold from a distance. Part of it but not," Rhia began, then sipped her tea again. She heaved a sigh, shook her head. "I watched as the summoner, cloaked in a hooded robe, had two people bring forth a victim. She was tied down inside an inverted pentagram. He slit her wrists to bring forth her blood, then started chanting in a demonic tongue. Magic filled the air. It was foul and heavy and oppressive. Then the woman screamed and her belly was just... huge and swollen and distended."
"He brought the demon into the world through her?"
"Yes. Her belly grew and grew. Then she had contractions and the demon actually crawled from between her thighs. There was an umbilical cord, Aedan. It was a fully formed demon given flesh. And it ate the woman."
"You. You mean the demon ate you. After you gave birth to it." Aedan's tone was flat and stubborn. She knew what was coming and she was not pleased. Not at all.
"He's planning on bringing the demon fully into the world, Aedan. He's going to make it a flesh and blood demon. And he plans on using me to do so." Rhia said.
"So the best course of action for you is to intentionally make yourself bait?"
"It makes sense, Aedan. I'm a natural witch. I can help you catch the summoner. I can protect myself. I--"
Aedan slid from the stool and paced into the living area of her apartment, then swung back and pinned Rhiannon with a stare. "I was at a crime scene today, Rhia. Did your visions tell you that? Did they tell you that the victim knew he was a target and was ready for the demon? He thought he was. He thought he could protect himself. And when he used his blessed dagger to injure the demon, the demon picked him up and slammed him into the floor and ceiling repeatedly until his head was a battered, misshapen mess! You cannot protect yourself from that, Rhiannon! And I will not let you make a target of yourself. I almost lost Minette to a lunatic. I won't lose you, too."
"Aedan," Rhia began, but the look Aedan shot the other woman silenced whatever she was going to say. Christophe came around the breakfast bar and stopped only a few inches from her
"You need the help, Aedan. I have been unsuccessful in locating the summoner," he told her. She stared at him with wide, disbelieving eyes.
"I am not going to ask her to put her life on the line. That isn't her job!" Aedan spat.
"It isn't your job, either. And you aren't asking. She's offering."
"The mother fucking badge that says I'm a Federal Marshal says different," she snarled. "And I don't care if the Pope or Goddess herself fucking promotes her to the position. I will not allow it."
It was Rhia's turn to slide off her stool. She crossed over to where Aedan stood and stared at her, arms crossed over her chest. "I am not a child, Aedan. You don't get to make this decision for me. Its mine to make. And I've decided that I'm going to help you find this sick bastard and put an end to him. Anything that happens to me is on me. No one else. But I would really, really like it if you could help make sure nothing happens to me. I've got too much to live for here. Friends and loved ones. I'd like to keep it that way for as long as possible."
Aedan was dangerously close to telling both of them to get the fuck out of her apartment. She was too tired for this. Too done in by everything she'd seen over the course of the past twenty four hours. There was no way she could make a rational, informed decision about Rhia's desire to help at the moment. She needed sleep in the worst way. So she took a deep breath. And another. And another. Took them until she'd calmed to her almost normal state. Then she looked them both in the eye to let them know she was done with this shit.
"I can't make this decision right now. I need to sleep and clear my head. I have been up for more than a day and I've dealt with more shit today than I really wanted to. So I'm going to ask both of you to leave. Let me sleep. Let me shower. Let me eat. Then I'll think about it. But not until then. Please."
Rhia gave a half smile and nodded, then leaned in and hugged Aedan. "Thank you. I know this is the last thing you want to agree to. I know you'll feel responsible if anything were to happen. But it won't. I trust you to have my back."
"I haven't said yes, yet. Just that I'll consider it. Now go. Leave. I am about to fall flat on my face and I really don't want you to see that."
"You shouldn't be alone," Christophe remarked, giving her a good once over.
"Not alone. Bobby Lee is out in the parking lot, keeping an eye on me. And I have my gun. I'll be fine. Go. Don't worry about me," she told him. Both of them. Rhiannon looked like she wanted to argue, but Aedan cut her off simply by motioning to the door with one hand. The two of them stared a few seconds longer, obviously reluctant to leave her, then finally turned and headed for the door. Rhia shot her one last look before stepping out into the hall. The door closed after them to leave her apartment feeling terribly empty and lonely.
Brushing that feeling aside, Aedan went to the door and engaged the locks. She considered, very briefly, the notion of cleaning up after their little tea party. But it wasn't important and she was just simply too tired to care about the mess. After going through the routine of ensuring everything was locked, she headed for the bedroom. She made a brief pit stop in the bathroom, then stripped her clothes off and climbed into her bed.
She was already asleep before her head even touched the pillow.
~*~
She woke in a rush of panicked confusion and crippling fear. Her hand automatically brought the gun out from under the pillow and up before her as she sat straight up in bed, eyes wild and unseeing as she tried to remember who and where she was.
"You haven't had that particular nightmare in a long time." The voice cut through the fog and helped her focus on the here and now. She found her gun aimed straight at Edward's head, hand steady and sure despite the fact that it felt like she was shaking apart on the inside.
"Not since you came into my life," she whispered. He seemed amused that she had the gun trained on him, but he didn't move. Simply watched as she took a breath while her hand absently went through the motions of securing her weapon. She had to stop and think a moment when her thumb slid the safety on because she was sure she'd left it on when she'd put the gun under her pillow and she couldn't remember taking the safety off. The gun went back under the pillow, allowing Aedan to use her free hand to push her hair from her face. The other hand was pressed against her chest, holding the sheet in place so she didn't give Edward a show.
"You look like shit, Aedan," he said softly.
"Thanks. I've been working at it hard to ensure I got it just right," she replied flippantly. He frowned at that, then stood and tossed clothing at her.
"I'll be in the other room. Don't make me wait too long."
"Yes, Dad," she shot back, then shot him the bird when he turned to give her a stare. He was gone without saying anything else. Aedan was seriously tempted to flop back into the pillows and go to sleep. But Edward wouldn't let that happen. He obviously had business to discuss. She sighed and glanced at the clock beside her bed. It was barely past two. She couldn't be sure, but she thought she'd only gone to sleep an hour or so ago. She needed to check on her schedule for the evening. If it wasn't too booked, she was going to have Craig rearrange her appointments and take the night off. If she didn't...
Frowning, Aedan slid from her bed and made quick work of putting on the clothes Edward had tossed at her. She wasn't going to keep him waiting if she could help it. First, she didn't want to deal with his temper or his threats. Second, she wanted to go back to sleep. Fortunately, it was Edward. He was notorious for keeping things short and sweet.
Clothes in place, Aedan joined Edward in the sparsely decorated living area of her apartment. He handed her a cold can of Coke and motioned toward the couch. She didn't need to be told twice and took a seat, curling up in the corner with her back against the arm and her hands wrapped around her caffeine injection. Edward sat, keeping some distance between them, and gave her a hard stare.
"You didn't shoot Bobby Lee, did you?" she asked quietly, then popped the top and took a drink.
"No. But I did have a conversation with him and he said you've been pushing too hard lately." Edward sounded... concerned. Which was not like him. Aedan avoided rolling her eyes by closing them and taking a breath.
"Is everyone up in my business? I mean, I'm pretty sure leather boy has everyone reporting my every bowel movement to him." The comment earned a faint chuckle from her companion. "I expect that from him. That's how he rolls. But you? Being all concerned and shit? Frankly, that's kind of scary and I don't know if I like the implications behind it."
"You're a friend, Aedan," he told her. There was an honest sincerity in his voice she couldn't recall having heard before. She frowned at that and took another drink. "I am going to be up in your business when I have to be. You obviously aren't taking care of yourself. And I don't know what kind of shit is going on between you and Jean Claude. I don't want to know. But I know that, whatever it is, it is seriously fucking with your head right now. And you cannot afford that distraction."
"I'm fine, Edward."
"No, Aedan. You're really not. Have you looked at yourself in the mirror lately? You look worse than some corpses I've seen."
"I look a damn sight better than the corpses I saw today," she told him, a touch of affront in her voice.
"Tell me," he instructed. She took a deep breath and a fortifying drink of her Coke, then started talking about the crime scenes. She told him of the dead lycanthrope first, making sure to provide him with every last detail she could remember. She left off the fight with Dolph, instead focusing their attention on the deeds and how she felt this meant the murderers were devolving. Their acts were becoming more and more depraved as time went on. When he was satisfied she'd told him everything about the first crime scene, she started on the next one. She even went so far as to tell him about Rhiannon and Christophe's visit, what Rhia had told her and what she'd offered to do.
"Wait. Hold on. You said the summoner wants to fully bring the demon into the world. What does that mean?" Edward asked.
"He wants to give it a flesh and blood form. Not human possession, because demons can be cast out of a human's body. An actual, physical, flesh and blood demon form. If that was to happen... I don't know if anyone could stop it."
Edward stared at her a moment or two, face serious and intent. "Is that even possible? I don't know much about demons, but that doesn't seem like something that's possible."
"I don't know, Edward. This is the first I've encountered a demon. I know Anita came up against one. But nothing like this was going on so... I guess its possible?" Aedan shook her head and sipped at her Coke some more. "Possible or not, I don't like it. Not at all. I don't want Rhia to get involved."
"She's already involved, whether you like it or not. Better you agree to her plan and keep an eye on her than leave her to fend for herself. That dream of hers suggests she's going to be part of this at some point. She'll stand a better chance of surviving if she has you backing her." He was silent a moment, then closed some of the distance between them. Aedan watched him warily, not sure what this new tactic meant for her. Edward wasn't one for closeness. "And you need to sleep. So you can be there to protect her. I don't know everything you've gotten yourself into here, Aedan. I can tell you're over your head. I can tell its ripping you apart. You need to lean on someone who understands and can help."
"There is no one. Because after I take care of the demon summoner, and after I find the lycanthrope murderers and bring them down, there will always be someone or something else." She paused to have a drink, gave her head a shake and made a scoffing sound. "Hell, I'm going to be looking over my shoulder for the rest of my life simply because I've got the fucking council keeping an eye on me."
He frowned at that. "The council? I thought you'd settled things with them. They already sent Padma and Belle to see for themselves."
"Apparently that wasn't good enough."
"How do you know?"
"I had a conversation tonight. With a member of a very elite group of professional assassins." She made a sound that was supposed to be a laugh. The look he gave her asked the question he wasn't going to put into words. Aedan nodded her head.
"You met with them?"
"I met with one of them, yes. He found me in the cemetery after a zombie raising." The look he gave her suggested he was mad that she hadn't mentioned it before. And that he wished he'd been there. She shrugged a shoulder. It wasn't like he'd have been able to protect her. She knew better. And so did he. Sighing, she waved her hand to let him know that part wasn't important. "He told me that I have made the list of the cabal that's behind Anita's death."
Edward's face went empty and still. There was nothing there to see or read. It was almost as good as the masks that vampires wore when they wanted to keep their thoughts and feelings to themselves. "They want you dead now."
"Yup. Apparently, I shouldn't have had a fit and raised all those zombies at Jean Claude's little party. They don't like that I'm as powerful as Anita was." More powerful, actually, but she wasn't going to give voice to that bit. "So my visitor showed up to warn me that they want me dead. Also, it seems some of his elite group are members of this cabal. Meaning they were behind Anita's death. Meaning they've given me just cause to cut their fucking hearts out of their chests."
"You aren't going near them. Any of them. You let me worry about Anita's killers from now on. I don't want you out on that limb."
Aedan was too tired to get angry with him. "I'll tell you like you told me. I'm involved in it, whether you want me to be or not. If I get the chance, I'll take it. But I'll tell you like I told Rhiannon and Christophe earlier. I'm too tired to deal with your macho attitude right now. We'll talk about it after I sleep. For now, though, I'm going back to bed. You know where the door is. You let yourself in. You can let yourself out."
She finished off her Coke and put the can down on the nearest flat surface, then rose to her feet. Edward stood with her and stared at her a moment or two. "Go get some sleep. I'll stay and keep watch."
Well. Alright, then.
Chapter Forty Four: Ripe (With Decay)
Fandom: Anita Blake universe
Rating: 18 and up
Warnings: graphic sex and violence, language, anything else i can toss in.
Disclaimer: the recognizable characters and places contained herein are the property of LKH. i'm merely borrowing for the sake of entertainment. no money is being made from this venture. the Sues are the sole property of their originators, Ginevra, Dazzledfirestar, Nanaea, SilverFoxChan and ladydeathfaerie. the concept and title of The Mary Sue Virus are used with permission from Dazzledfirestar.
Author's Notes: okay. this one is probably a lot gory. you have been warned
The Mary Sue Virus: Beyond Death - Index Link
"This was a goddamn slaughter and I've got you to thank for it," Dolph snarled, glaring down at Aedan with red hot rage burning in his eyes. She held herself ramrod straight and stared right back, refusing to let him see what his display of temper was doing to her.
"My doing," she echoed softly. It wasn't a question, but it invited comment anyway.
"Yes! If you hadn't spoken with the press, this wouldn't have happened!" he retorted. Oh. So that's how it was going to be. He wanted to get into a pissing contest with her? Fine. They'd get into a pissing contest. She'd drown him with the amount of piss that she carried around within her.
Aedan leveled a look on him. "And you're the expert in human nature now? You're the expert in preternatural serial killers?"
"I've got more experience under my belt than you do when it comes to murder and crime scenes," he snapped. More experience? Really? She pursed her lips and took a deep breath. No time like the present to burst his fucking bubble.
"And this is why I'm the one who had to tell you that your killer is going after lycanthropes? This is why I'm the one who told you that one of your killers, as in there's more than one person committing these crimes, is a lycanthrope themselves? This is why I had to tell you that you're dealing with a demon at the other crime scenes?" She looked him up and down and made sure he saw the disgust in her eyes when her gaze returned to his face. Snorted inelegantly in case he missed the look. "Some expert you are."
There was a handful of other people in the room with them. Zerbrowski and Detective Perry, a couple other guys on the RPIT squad. She swore she felt them go still when she spat out her insult. Hell, the entire room went still, as if the building was listening to them and couldn't believe what she'd just said. "You're walking a thin line, Kinkade. You might want to--"
"I might want to what, Detective Storr? Watch what I'm saying?" she broke across his statement, voice soft and low. She shook her head and rocked back on her feet, assuming a deceptively relaxed position. " What does it matter? Nothing I do or say will ever be good enough for you. There isn't anything I'll ever do that will exonerate me in your eyes. You will never, ever stop blaming me for not dying on the road that night in Anita's place. So let's just cut the shit and lay everything out on the fucking table here and now." She stepped into him, made sure to invade his personal space and let him know that she was not going to let him treat her like shit or intimidate her in any way. "I was well within my rights to talk to the media. I know the notion constantly escapes you, but I don't fucking work for you. I'm a goddamn Federal Marshal and I do not need your permission to speak to the media. You should thank your fucking lucky stars that I'm here to lend you my expert advice when you call for it. Because I'm the only expert you've got!"
Dolph stared a moment. He didn't say anything in response to her assertion that he would always blame her for Anita's death. Instead, he chose to beat on the other dead horse a little more. "You should have consulted me before you went off half-cocked and made cryptic statements to the press. What the hell was all that anyway?"
"A statement to the press. In case our murderers were watching. To let them know that I will find them and I will put an end to their spree." It was the only explanation she planned on giving him. It was the only one he needed.
He didn't believe her. It was obvious in the way he watched her. She could practically feel, burning in him, the desire to ask her more. But he held himself back. He did make sure she knew how much he blamed her for everything, though. "Well, it goddamn worked! This place is a fucking mess because of your statement."
Aedan sighed and barely kept herself from rolling her eyes. Of course he was going to lay the blame for the violence of the scene squarely on her shoulders. She didn't let it bother her, instead pinning him with a look that said she thought he was being incredibly narrow minded about the whole thing. "And it never occurred to you that maybe, just maybe, our killers are devolving? They've been on this killing spree for some time now. They've built up a lot of confidence that we can't touch them and will never find them. All of that confidence will go to their heads and fuck with their ability to think about things rationally. They'll get sloppy. They'll make mistakes." And when they did, Aedan would be there to correct their mistakes. Permanently.
Maybe putting an end to their killing spree would help ease some of the guilt she felt about it all.
"You really think our killers are devolving?" Dolph asked. His voice made it plain that he didn't feel as confident about that assessment as she did. "Hell, you really think they think about anything rationally?"
"Dolph, they sexually assaulted the victim with a hunting knife. Do you really believe they aren't?" It had been absolutely disturbing to arrive and find that there was a knife embedded in the corpse's vagina. That was an image she was never going to forget. She could only imagine what kind of pain their victim had been in before she'd finally died. "And, yes. I do happen to think they were capable of rational thought. At one point. Because the previous scenes we went to were careful and clean. Controlled. This one is chaotic and messy. The last one was similar. They're devolving. They've been devolving for a while now. Something set them off. Long before I gave my statement to the media. Until we catch them and ask them what prompted their killing spree, we won't know what prompted them to devolve."
He stared at her, as if he couldn't believe he was hearing such things come from someone he considered so young. He'd already accused her of having absolutely no expertise. Maybe it was time to disabuse him of that notion. At least to some degree. He didn't need to know that she was working with Anita's memories in her head. She was pretty sure that would freak him right the fuck out. But she could tell him a little more about the more mundane aspects of her background. "Now might be a good time to let you know, Detective Storr, that I spent my college years working my ass off. When other kids were going home over summer vacation, I was taking a full year of classes. I started my college learning before my freshman year even started. I worked my ass off to get where I am. I went through the Marshal program when I wasn't in class. And, in my spare time, I went on vampire hunts and raised the occasional zombie. So while I look young and may seem to have no experience, I can assure you that such appearances are patently untrue."
She paused a moment or two, waited for him to process what she'd told him. She knew that, ultimately, how he chose to view her was dependent upon his own personal opinions and beliefs. Her words and actions only formed part of the picture. But he needed to know, whether he liked it or not, that she was far more knowledgeable in this area than he wanted to give her credit for. "Now that we have that out of the way, Detective Storr, let's go back to the business of trying to solve these crimes. I expect we won't need to pull out the measuring stick again?" The last was asked lightly, but she was absolutely serious about it. She didn't want to have him questioning her qualifications to be on a crime scene ever again.
"Very well," he agreed with a brief nod of his head. "Since you're my expert and you have so much knowledge, what was the purpose of using a hunting knife to rape our victim?"
Aedan stared at him. Seriously? He was going to try and trip her up? Apparently he hadn't been listening. "He wanted to use her and humiliate her. And he wanted to inflict the most pain he could before she died. But he didn't want to sully himself with someone who wasn't... human. So he fucked her with a knife to prove to her, and himself, that he's the one with all the power. And he didn't have to get his precious human dick dirty in order to do it."
She could feel everyone staring at her, as if they'd had no clue she was so learned about homicidal maniacs' reasons for doing what they did. Or that she had as foul a mouth as she did. "Do you kiss your mom with that mouth?" Zerbrowski asked jokingly. Aedan turned to look at him.
She didn't know what was on her face, but whatever it was saw Zerbrowski frowning and taking half a step back. Several others in the room did the same thing. Zerbrowski brought his hands up in a gesture of surrender, his face suddenly filled with apology and confusion. "Sorry, Kinkade. It was just a joke. I didn't mean anything by it."
She stared at him a just a bit longer, just to get her point across. Dolph's voice, full of disapproval, cut across the awkward silence and gave the rest of his team the opportunity they needed to break out of their shock. "When you're done terrorizing my men, Kinkade."
She let her displeasure with his attitude show on her face. She was done with this whole thing. He'd been nothing but rude and condescending to her since she'd arrived on scene. She was tired. Tired of seeing death in bright, vivid splashes of crimson and flesh tones. Tired of trying to find some sense of balance in her life. Tired of fighting all the goddamn time. Tired of being blamed for what had happened here. And she knew, no matter what she said the contrary, Dolph was going to continue blaming her for that woman's death. "You wanted something else?" she asked quietly.
"Yes." He paused a moment to give her a stern look, then brought a pad of paper out of his pocket. "Since you got all biblical in your press release, I thought it might interest you to know that the verse left in Katie Harris' hand speaks of murderers and hell."
"Oh?" she asked, sounding only vaguely as if she was interested.
"Yes. Let me read you the whole verse. Maybe you can tell me why our murderer chose to leave this message in the hand of a child." Dolph shot her a look, then shifted his attention to the paper before him. "But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death."
She gave the appearance of considering the words before shaking her head. "No. Sorry. I've got nothing. I have no clue why the murderer would leave something like that in a child's hand. You might want to find yourself a biblical scholar and see if they can tell you anything."
Dolph eyed her for a moment. She wasn't sure if he was trying to decide if he believed her or if he was trying to find a lie in her words. So Aedan stood and waited patiently. Finally, Dolph returned his attention to his pad and pulled out a pen. She watched as he took a moment to jot something down on the open page, then he tucked both pen and paper away. The room was filled with a painful silence as each person present stared, waiting to see what would happen next.
The electronic chime of a phone shattered the stillness and seemed to act as some kind of catalyst. The room moved again, people hustling about their duties as if they'd never been still. Aedan wanted to find out if she could go home because she was about to drop, but Dolph was the one pulling his phone from his pocket. The look that came to his face when he glanced at it suggested that nothing good waited on the other end of the line. She held back a sigh and held onto the urge to turn and march from the room before he could put his phone away. Any call that brought forth a look like that likely meant her expert services were needed elsewhere. Maybe, if she was lucky, she could get to bed before the next millennia dawned.
The moment Dolph put the phone back in his pocket, the room fell silent. His eyes, hard and unreadable, landed on Aedan and pinned her where she stood. A chill crept up her spine. "We've got another scene to visit. Detective Perry, inform the rest of the squad we're moving out. Kinkade, I've already sent the address to your phone." His gaze slid away from her and landed on Zerbrowski. "Let's go."
Dolph strode past her without saying another word. Zerbrowski shot her a look, then followed after the other man. Aedan drew a breath and frowned. It was starting to look like it would be a very, very long day.
~*~
"It looks like a goddamn war zone," Zerbrowski whispered. Aedan was thinking it looked more like something out of one of those horror movie series made specifically to scare the shit out of teenagers. Or make them sick to their stomachs. Or was that just her?
The scene was so fresh that the room stank of spilt blood and internal organs. Of shit and piss. Of strong magic and strong fear. And of demon. It was the first time she could recall smelling demon at one of the crime scenes. Which made her think that there was something different about this crime scene something that hadn't been present at the previous ones. Brain switched on, she began studying the room surrounding her and everything about it. She tuned out the voices around her, shutting everything away until she was focused on each minute detail of the scene.
The body was, for now, a series of lumps hidden from view by a white sheet. The room was washed in so much blood. It covered the floor immediately surrounding the corpse, oozing out from under the sheet in thin streams that were becoming thick and sluggish. Splashes of bright crimson climbed up the walls and splattered the ceiling overhead. It didn't look like any arterial spray she'd ever seen. And it didn't look like it had been made by bringing a weapon or hand coated in blood back and up. So how had blood been splashed and spattered on the walls and ceiling in such a unique, distinctive pattern?
It took a while for her eyes to make sense of the patterns, and it took trying to trace them with a hand in the air to do so. And when it finally made sense, her stomach dropped to her feet. "This isn't like the other demon killings," she whispered.
Everything behind her stopped and she felt every last bit of attention turned her way. Slowly, Aedan turned to face the rest of the assembled group. She let her gaze flick around the room in order to ensure she was really seeing what she thought she was seeing before bringing her attention to the body under the sheet.
"Kinkade?" Dolph's voice cut into her thoughts, forcing her to shift her focus to his face. He looked vaguely concerned. She didn't know if it was because she looked bad or because he really didn't want to know how bad she thought the current scene was.
"Who was first on the scene?" she asked, eyes sliding toward the doorway.
"Hankins. Rookie. He's outside, trying to stop puking," Zerbrowski told her. When she looked at him, he shrugged. "First murder scene. Kid's never seen anything like this before."
"I need to talk to him. I need to know what he saw when he entered," she said, shifting her gaze back to the blood spatter. No one else spoke, but she heard someone's footsteps as they exited the room. If she could just figure out what was off...
Aedan was still staring at the ceiling when she heard a voice from outside the room. "I don't want to go back in there! That room is the stuff of nightmares!" The voice was young, and male, and terribly strident. She turned to look through the open doorway. She could see one of the other uniforms with a tall, skinny kid who looked like he'd barely just gotten old enough to shave. He honestly couldn't be much older than Aedan, but she felt so much older than him. And she felt horrible about asking him to come back into the horror, but she didn't have much choice. She had a theory.
"Marshal Kinkade is asking for you. Stop being a baby and get in there. You're a cop, for fuck's sake. Act like it," the other uniform ordered. Aedan frowned and made a mental note to have a word with him when she was done.
"Thank you, officer. I can handle it from here," Aedan said, already stepping through the doorway. The older officer gave her a look that told her he'd heard the coldness in her tone and he didn't like it. Not one bit. She didn't give a fuck what he liked. She outranked him. And she was meaner. But he said nothing, merely nodded her head and walked off. The kid stared at Aedan, eyes too wide and face too pale. He was afraid she'd make him go back into the room. And it was obvious that he'd really lose it if she did. So she compromised. "You don't have to go back in there. We're going to go into the room next door. If you'd come with us, Detective Storr?"
She put a hand on the kid's arm and motioned toward a door standing open just a few feet away. The kid headed in that direction willingly. Aedan stayed beside him while Dolph's footsteps echoed behind them. The three of them entered the other room and spread out so that no one invaded anyone else's personal space.
The newest victim lived in a small, modest house in a small, modest neighborhood where people knew each other and block parties were commonplace. It came with a kitchen big enough for a table for two, a living area, a bathroom, and two other rooms on the main floor. There was a basement and an upper level where the police had found two bedrooms and a crawlspace. The room where the victim had been found was barren of most furniture save a couple chairs, a bookshelf, and a table being used as an altar. The other room, the one they were in, was an office type space with a desk, a computer, and bookshelves loaded down with books.
A glance at Dolph let Aedan know this was her show. She gave the rookie a few moments to realize that he wasn't going to be bullied, waiting until she saw the tension start to edge out of his shoulders before she spoke to him. "Officer Hankins, is it?"
"Yes, ma'am." The kid barely met her eyes before shifting his gaze to his feet.
"I'm sorry that this had to be your first crime scene, Officer. How are you feeling?"
"I've never seen anything like this, ma'am," he told her. She could hear the horror in his voice, letting her know it would be so easy to send him running for the bathroom. She was going to have to take this one easy in the hopes that she'd be able to get the information from him that she needed.
"I know. And I'm sorry that I have to do this, but I need you to tell me everything you can remember about the scene when you walked into that room." She made sure to keep her voice low and soft, unthreatening. If he didn't feel like he was being pushed around, maybe it would make this whole thing easier for all of them. "Detective Storr is here because he needs to know the same things I do. I wouldn't ask you to go back over this if it wasn't really important. But I want you to know that nothing will happen to you here and that all you'll be dealing with are memories. Do you understand me?"
"Yes, ma'am." He didn't sound sure, but he was trying to be brave.
She offered him a smile. "Please. Call me Aedan. Ma'am feels too formal," she offered.
"Okay." He took a shaky breath. "Aedan."
"Okay. I need you to relax. Close your eyes. Breathe in deeply through your nose, Out through your mouth until you feel the tension start to slip away. Then you can breathe normally. But keep your eyes closed. I won't ask any questions until I feel you're ready. Is that okay?"
"Yeah," he nodded. Aedan fell silent, took it on faith that Dolph would do the same. The two of them watched as the rookie did as she'd instructed. His eyes closed, albeit reluctantly, and he took a first deep breath in through his nose. Let it out through his mouth. Repeated the process once more. And again. And again.
All in all, he breathed in and out for a steady five minutes before the tightness around his eyes eased. His hands unclenched, fingers straightening out until they rested almost limply against the material of his uniform pants. His shoulders came down last, his body as relaxed as it was going to get. Aedan hated destroying his temporary peace, but she had questions that only he could answer.
"Alright, Officer Hankins. You've gotten the call on your radio. Someone has called in some kind of disturbance. You show up at this residence and enter with your gun out, looking for possible victims and perpetrators. You search the house and find nothing. Until you enter the other room. Tell me what you see." Hankins' partner had given them that much information before he'd hurried from the room, looking as if he was trying to hold back the bile that wanted to rise up his throat.
"Lots of blood," the young man began. He frowned a little, but his breathing stayed steady. "I can see the body just laying there. It looks like so much meat. The room smells. Bad. And..."
He stopped to swallow. She watched as he shivered, just a little. "And? And what? What is it?"
"I don't know. I can't explain it. It just feels weird in here. I don't really want to be in here. My skin is trying to crawl off my body," he told her. Aedan frowned. She hadn't felt anything, but she'd been more focused on the blood than the atmosphere. She'd have to see if Dolph would clear the room and let her try and feel things out.
"You feel something that doesn't belong?" He nodded. "Tell me what it feels like. Can you describe it?"
"Its like... wrongness. It just feels wrong. Like something foul is tainting the air." Goose bumps broke out on Aedan's skin. She didn't like anything about this scene. It was all just plain wrong.
"Tell me, Officer Hankins. Do you get these feelings a lot? Have they ever helped keep you or someone you know from getting hurt?" she asked. She felt Dolph look her way, obviously wondering about her change in questioning.
"Ma'am?" the officer asked, his eyes popping open to stare at her.
"Do you get these kinds of feelings often? Where you enter a room and something doesn't feel right. Or maybe you plan on doing something, but you get this feeling that doing so would be bad, so you go do something else entirely? You know, those moments where your brain just says 'Nope!' and runs the other direction. You don't know why it does that, but you know its right and so you do the same thing?"
He took a moment to really consider her words before shrugging his shoulders as if it wasn't as big a deal as she was making of it. "Ever since I was a kid. Sometimes, I'd just know something bad was going to happen before it did." There was a touch of defensiveness in his voice, as if he was challenging her to make something of it. She suspected someone had done that to him more than once as he was growing up.
"That is an excellent instinct to have, Officer Hankins. I believe you're sensitive. Its kind of like being a psychic, but without the extra shit that will drive you crazy." She flashed him a smile before looking at Dolph. "You might want to see if you can get him moved to your squad. He'd be a good asset to have on scenes like this."
"I'll look into it. But only if Officer Hankins wants to make the change." Dolph made sure he looked at the young man in question with the last of his statement.
Aedan nodded at that, then turned back to Hankins. "Close your eyes again. Center yourself. You've just entered the scene of the murder. You've felt something bad that you do not like. Tell me what you see."
The young man closed his eyes as he was told, took a deep breath to fortify himself. Aedan remained silent as he took a moment to bring his breathing back under control. As he went back into the nightmarish memories to try and give her what she was looking for. "There are gouges and specks on the floor, just here." One hand pointed to a spot on the floor. Aedan made note of where it would be in the other room so that she could check it out when they returned. "I see... a flash of something in the beam of my flashlight. Under the table against the back wall."
"Can you tell what it is? Do you go look at it?"
"Too much blood between me and it. I don't want to contaminate the scene. Johns did that once. Sarge reamed his ass but good." The answer saw Aedan holding back a faint smile. The kid was smart. She shot a look at Dolph in question. He nodded, letting her know he understood.
She shifted back to Hankins. "What else?"
"Blood is dripping from the ceiling. Pieces of flesh are falling with it. Everything is covered in bright red. Beyond that, there isn't much else to see but the body and its..." the young man's face paled and she watched his Adam's apple bob when he swallowed hard. "It looks like ground meat. I've never seen anything like it. I..."
His words trailed off as his face went from ashen to green. Aedan broke in on his thoughts before he could finish thinking them. She didn't want him to throw up again. She could imagine he already felt bad enough about it and someone had likely given him a ration of shit for being human and reacting to a bad situation. "That's all I need, Officer. Thank you for your time and your help. You probably don't think you did much, but trust me. You did."
He blinked his eyes open and glanced at her in disbelief. Then his gaze sought out Dolph's, silently asking if he could go. "Back to your post, Officer," Dolph rumbled. The kid nodded his head and mumbled a brief thanks, then hurried from the room.
"See to it that he talks to someone," Aedan said softly.
"We've got a good shrink who works specifically with RPIT. I'll see to it that Hankins sees her," Dolph replied. Aedan nodded and started for the door. "Who do you talk to, Kinkade?"
She shrugged one shoulder negligently. "The bottle of rum I keep in the fridge is a good listener. It doesn't judge. And I only have to pay for its services once. Now let's head back to the body. I need to check some things. And I'm going to need you to clear the room for me. Just for a few moments. If that's okay with you."
He gave her a look. "You're the one who reminded me not that long ago that you're a Federal Marshal and you can do what you please without my permission."
Aedan took a breath. Counted to fifty. Took another breath. "I am a Federal Marshal. And I can do as I please. However, I don't really want to alienate you or your men because I might have a chip on my shoulder. I will not apologize for my behavior. But I will explain it with the statement that I've been having a really shitty life lately and that tends to make me cranky."
She thought she saw his lips twitch.
The two of them returned to the crime scene in silence. She let Dolph go before her so she could take a moment to study the room, to try and see it as Officer Hankins must have when he'd looked through the door. There were several crime scene markers against the far wall, but none where he'd indicated he'd seen the gouges and the specks. She saw one, off by itself, under the table. Next to it, gleaming dully in the shadows crowded around it, was the item Hankins had said he'd seen. Aedan had to squint, but she felt confident it was a knife of some sort.
"I need everyone to clear the room. For just a few minutes. Marshal Kinkade would like it to do... whatever it is she needs to do," Dolph said, bringing everyone's attention first to him and then to Aedan. She was too busy staring at the spot Hankins had indicated to really notice, but she felt each of them as they passed her by. Dolph was the last one, stopping beside her so that he could speak. "Just a few minutes, Kinkade. And don't touch anything. We're not done documenting the crime scene."
"Won't touch a thing," she murmured, focus still on the floor. Dolph continued by until she stood in the doorway to a room that was filled with blood and death and a fresh corpse.
The first thing she did was move to where Hankins had said he'd spied something. As he'd said, there were gouges in the wood flooring, specks of something dark scattered beside them. She made sure that her gloves were in place before putting a hand on a section of the floor not marked and leaning down until her face was almost touching the wooden surface. The gouges were fresh. And deep. And she could see a faint point at the very bottom of them. If she had to hazard a guess, she'd have to say that the demon dug his feet into the floor. For some reason. Wondering why that would be, she turned her focus to the specks Hankins had mentioned in his brief interview.
The specks were easy to see, scattered beside the gouges in copious amounts. They were dark, like the ones she'd seen at the college boys' house. And they were wet. She could see the light reflecting off them. Getting as close to the floor as she could, she took a deep breath. Sulfur. She could smell it emanating from the specks. "You're going to want your crime scene team to take photos here. Take samples from the gouges as well as the blood."
"Blood?" Dolph asked.
"Demon blood. This is the second time I've found it at a crime scene. The first time was the college boys' house. One or all of them knew how to hurt it. Our victim here knew how to hurt it, as well. These gouges are deep. That suggests that there was some kind of fight."
"A fight? Why do you say that?"
"Because," Aedan said as she got to her feet. "There's a knife under the table and I can tell from just a glance that it isn't an athame. Quiet a moment. I need to see if I can feel anything."
"Is she for real?" one of the cops asked, not bothering to lower his voice. She didn't bother responding, instead closing her eyes so that she could try to find any kind of energy on the air. Anything that might tell her something about the events that happened prior to the arrival of the police. It took a little longer than she'd like, but she finally caught a sense of the wrongness that Officer Hankins had mentioned. Aedan tipped her head to the side, as if listening, hoping that shifting her mental perspective would help her put a name to the wrongness. If she could figure out what it was and why it was there...
It came to her the way revelations sometimes did, out of the blue and with little fanfare. That sense of wrong belonged to the remnants of a spell. If she focused intently enough, she could just feel the last bits of it hanging on the air. The edges of the spell were tattered and torn, as if something had shredded it. Shredded... "Or tore through it," she whispered to herself. Eyes popping open, Aedan let her gaze turn to the door and measure the distance between it and herself.
Only a half dozen steps. Maybe a few more. She retraced her path to the door, concentrating on seeking out that sense of wrongness. She couldn't feel it by the door. But the deeper she went into the room, the closer she got to the spot where the gouges were, the stronger it got. How was that even possible?
Careful of where she put her feet, Aedan made her way around the pool of blood. Avoided droplets of it as she headed toward the table. Blood had spattered the victim's altar, staining crystals and sage and all of the other trappings of their faith. The table's cloth, a bright and welcoming green with Celtic designs done on it in white, was covered in flecks of muddied brown where the blood had dried. She went down on hands and knees and peered under the table at the knife that rested there.
It was definitely not an athame. The knife had a long, wicked blade that looked sharp even in the shadows. Said blade was stained with dark wetness, suggesting that it had managed to find purchase in its victim. An indrawn breath told her that the victim had been the demon. That gave her pause. How had the victim inflicted damage upon a demon? She'd been led to believe that such a thing was impossible. But even the experts didn't know everything in their chosen fields. Interesting.
She reached a hand under the table, halting its forward advance just short of actually touching the blade, and let her fingers hover just over the surface of the weapon. She could feel magic rolling off it, some kind of spell or maybe a blessing that made it deadly to demon-kind. Whatever it was that had been used, it was responsible for the damage the demon took.
Damage and pain were as good explanations as to why this crime scene looked different. Time to prove her theory correct. Time to look at the body.
It was hard to approach the corpse without stepping in the blood that had been spilled from it. She watched where she put her feet, made sure they didn't go anyplace they shouldn't, until she was close enough to the body to squat and take hold of a corner of the sheet. It lifted away slowly, reluctantly, the blood stuck to it trying to keep it in place. She almost dropped the sheet right away before fully viewing the corpse. It took everything she had in her to maintain her hold on the sheet.
The body was so much meat, the head a misshapen mass on the stem of the neck. Somehow, the demon had managed to pull the victim's eyes from their sockets without completely ripping them free, so both spheres hung limply against sagging cheeks. The torso had been shredded open, exposing internal organs to view. She could see bones that had been broken, jagged ends poking through flesh where it hadn't been torn away. The heart was missing. So were the lungs. The abdomen had been pierced by the demon's claws, the bowel perforated. Lifting the sheet allowed the foul stench to waft up into air. Both arms and legs were shattered. And it looked as if one shoulder had been pulled from its socket.
Aedan covered the body with the sheet again, took one last look at the ceiling. "There was a fight here."
Her words brought everyone's gaze swinging her way. "A fight?" Dolph asked. Aedan nodded and moved back to where the tattered remnants of the spell still hung on the air.
"The demon didn't come in through the front or back door, did it?"
If Dolph thought her question was out of the blue and misplaced, he said nothing about that. Instead, he shook his head at her and glanced calculatingly at her. "No. He didn't. How did you figure it out?"
"Officer Hankins mentioned a wrongness. It starts here," she told him, motioning to the spot beside her. Beside where the gouges and blood specks were. "The demon never came through the door. It more or less materialized right here. I can feel the remnants of the victim's wards. I can also feel the spell that allowed the demon to appear here. That's what Hankins was sensing. That spell ripped the wards apart like wet tissue paper."
"How is it possible that the demon could simply appear in the victim's home?" This question came from Zerbrowski. His attention was intent and he, like Dolph, had a pad of paper and pen in hand in order to take notes.
"The summoner has been here," Aedan replied. "Its likely the summoner knew the victim and the victim knew the summoner. But that isn't the only odd thing about this scene."
"The fight?" Dolph was giving the room another look, likely with a new set of eyes.
"The fight. I think the victim knew he was going to be a victim. I think he was ready for the demon." She motioned to the knife, still under the table where it had come to rest after being knocked from the victim's hand. "He took that knife to the demon."
"You said it wasn't an athame," Dolph reminded her. Aedan nodded and turned her attention back to the table that served as the altar. Sitting on the back, on a raised platform, was an ornamental knife that served as the victim's athame.
"The athame is there on the table. If you look at it closely, it will look more ornate than functional. Its used to represent one of the practitioner's chosen deities. Generally the male aspect. Its strictly a ritual blade, so it mostly looks pretty." She motioned to the blade under the table again. "That blade is wicked and long and sharp, meant to inflict damage. I would have a witch give it a good once over, but I'm more than willing to bet its been bespelled or blessed. That knife did damage to the demon. Its blood is on the blade. And on the floor here." She motioned to the spot at her feet where the dark droplets stained the wood.
"So you're saying that the victim hurt the demon?" Dolph's voice sounded contemplative.
"Initially. When it first arrived. Maybe the victim was trying to keep the demon at bay so they could trap the demon in a circle. I can't say for sure. It takes a while to cast a circle. And you need something to draw the circle out with on the ground. Salt. Chalk. Blood. But it can't be closed. There needs to be an opening so whatever is going to be inside of it can actually step into it. So maybe the victim was trying to drive the demon back into a circle he'd made on the floor. But the attempt failed. The attack enraged the demon."
"How do you know that?" This from Zerbrowski.
She motioned to the room behind her. "Because the blood spatter on the ceiling suggests that the demon picked the victim up by one arm and slammed him into the ceiling and floor repeatedly until the man's skull was crushed. And there's rage in the way the wounds were inflicted upon his torso. The victim hurt the demon. His manner of death was the demon's response."
"Holy shit," someone muttered.
Dolph looked grim as he surveyed the scene yet again. "Is there anything else you can tell me?"
"I'm sure you've likely already figured it out, but I'm almost positive that all our victims are members of the same coven."
Dolph nodded. "Ellie Wilson's papers confirm it. We spoke with the remaining members of the coven after her murder to let them know that it was likely they were all on the summoner's list for some reason or another."
"That would be how this man knew he was going to be targeted. Which means the name of our killer is somewhere in those papers."
"We're still tracking down the names of people mentioned who were not actual members of the coven," Dolph admitted. He didn't sound happy about that. Aedan nodded and sighed. Now that the rush of finding a clue had left her, she was tired again and wanted nothing more than to go back to her apartment and collapse for the rest of the day.
"Is there anything else you need of me?" she asked, working at holding back her yawn. And the growing horror.
"I think I have everything I need. Go home and sleep. You look like hell," Dolph replied. Aedan nodded and headed for the door. She was so looking forward to her bed. Assuming, of course, her dreams didn't throw images of her failures at her. The last thing she needed was to see the corpses laid out for her again. Once was more than enough.
~*~
She'd barely dragged herself out of her car when she saw the jeep parked a few spaces down and groaned. Rhiannon was sliding out from behind the steering wheel. The last thing she wanted to do was discuss anything involving a certain master vampire with the other woman. A moment after Rhia climbed from the car, the passenger door opened and Christophe emerged from the vehicle. Hmmm. What were both Rhia and Christophe doing there? There was only one way to find out.
Trying to push aside the exhaustion and screw up her courage, Aedan drew her things from the car. The vehicle's door closed with a soft thud. She thumbed the lock button her key fob and started across the parking lot toward them. She was acutely aware of Bobby Lee watching the goings on from his black SUV. Naturally he'd followed her to and from the crime scene. No one had said anything about the presence of the vehicle as he'd waited outside for her to finish doing her job. To be honest, she'd been glad that he'd been behind her on the way back. She was so tired, she'd been afraid of falling asleep behind the wheel.
Rhia and Christophe met her halfway. "Jesus, Aedan. You look like shit. When's the last time you slept?"
"Yesterday? I think?" She shrugged as if it was no big deal. Rhia shot a look toward Christophe, who in made a point of putting a hand on Aedan's arm.
"Then we will make our business quick. And you will sleep when we've left," he pronounced in his deep, rumbling voice even as he prodded her forward. Aedan bit back a sigh and started forward. Rhia fell into step behind her, as did Christophe, and she wasn't sure if they were behind her simply so they could follow her to her apartment or if they were behind her so that they could be sure she wouldn't try and slip away.
She slipped the keys from her purse, proud of the fact that she didn't fumble the ring from fingers made slow and numb by too much shock and too little sleep. It took but a moment to undo the locks on her door, then she was letting her guests into her apartment. She left them to look around at the place while she stowed her weapon and her zombie raising kit. When she rejoined them, Rhia was perched on one of the island stools and Christophe was banging around in her kitchen cupboards. Aedan sent Rhia a questioning look.
"He's looking for a tea kettle," Rhia supplied.
"He'll be looking for a long time. I don't have one," Aedan told them. Christophe straightened from looking in the depths of one of her cupboards in order to give her a very insulted look.
"You, child, are a heathen," he told her. It brought a smile to Aedan's face. "But no matter. I am accomplished in the making of tea. You can go change into something more comfortable while I boil water and brew tea. Then we'll explain while we're here over a hot cup of chamomile."
"I don't drink tea," Aedan told him. Christophe sent her a stern look this time.
"Today you drink tea." His voice came out filled with parental authority. Then it, and the look on his face softened. "You look as if you need it desperately. It must have been a bad night. Now go. Put on something more comfortable."
She rolled her eyes at him, but made for the bedroom. She was glad to be getting out of her work clothes. Christophe had no idea just how bad the night had been. She didn't have any plans to inform him, either.
It felt like taking fifty pound plate armor off when she removed her suit coat and then her blouse. Maybe, in a way, it was exactly like that. Her dress clothes were her armor against the world when she was working, a way to protect herself from the horrors she saw. Not that it worked the way she'd like it to, but shedding her work clothes helped remove some of the weight that had been resting on her shoulders the entire day. She left the coat, the blouse, and her skirt laying in a pile on the seat of the cushy chair in her bedroom, then slipped into a pair of leggings and a baggy t-shirt. She took a moment to have a cursory look in the mirror, frowning at what she saw, then headed out to rejoin her guests.
The smell of steeping tea teased her nose when she stepped from her bedroom, mingling with the earthy, green smell she associated with Rhiannon and a spicy, woodsy smell she suspected was Christophe. The two were talking over the bar, their tones low and conspiratorial. It was more than enough to tell Aedan she probably wasn't going to like this discussion. That feeling was intensified when Christophe saw her, nodded his head, and the two of them fell into painful silence. Definitely not going to like this discussion.
She made her way to the other stool and took it, figuring Christophe would have already claimed it had he planned to do so. She'd barely settled her butt in the chair when she found a plate pushed before her, a freshly made sandwich resting on it. Christophe gave her a stern look that told her to eat or else, then went to check on their tea. Aedan didn't argue, just picked the sandwich up and took a bite. And realized she was hungry.
It wasn't much longer before Christophe set a mug of tea before her. He set a second before Rhia before turning back to fetch the remaining mug for himself. Then he leaned against the counter on and stared at them both, eyes shifting back and forth. "You, drink your tea," he said to Aedan before turning to Rhia. "You, tell your tale."
Rhia took a sip of her tea, then set the mug down and stared at Aedan for a moment. Obviously searching for a place to start. "You know I have visions."
Not where she expected the other woman to start. But okay. Aedan nodded. "You had one at the crime scene."
The reminder saw Rhiannon shuddering faintly. She took another sip of her tea, as if using the hot liquid as fortification. "I had another one, just about a week later. A dream, actually. It was bad enough to wake me."
Aedan stared a minute. "And?"
"Well, didn't think anything special of it until recently. At first, I thought I'd had it because of the visit to the crime scene."
"You saw the demon in your dream?"
"Yes. The demon was there. So was I."
Aedan set her cup of tea down and frowned. "Rhia. You should have told me."
Rhiannon held up her hands in a gesture that said she knew she'd fucked up. Aedan sighed and motioned for her to continue her story. There was obviously more to it. "At the time, I didn't know what it meant. The only thing I knew for certain was that I saw my own death."
"Rhia!"
"Now I think I understand!" Rhiannon pushed on before Aedan could work up a full head of steam. She sipped her tea, stalling her next words in an obvious move to get her thoughts in order. She was careful to avoid eye contact as she did so, obviously afraid of what she'd see in Aedan's face if she looked at it. "I had another vision just the other day. I know why the demon is going after the victims its choosing."
"They're all in a coven," Aedan said. There was no need in keeping that bit of news secret. She had no doubt that one of the more diligent members of the press was already working on digging that bit up. No doubt it would be on the six o'clock news any day now. "That's how the summoner is choosing his victims."
"That's not the only way, Aedan. They're all natural witches. Every member of that coven is a natural witch."
Rhiannon said it with such conviction that Aedan could do nothing but sit back against the stool and stare at her. "You're sure?" she finally asked. She was going to have to call Dolph and let him know this little bit because it was an important part of the summoner's MO.
"Every last one of them, Aedan. That's why he's going after them. I don't know why I'm sure of that, but I am. The summoner is sending the demon against the members of the coven because they're all natural witches."
Aedan regarded her for a few moments, considering what Rhia had said. And what she hadn't said. Yet. Something told Aedan she knew what was coming and she wasn't going to like it. "Tell me about this vision, Rhia."
"Its been a series of them, Aedan. What do you want to know?"
"Not the ones that made you realize the coven is made up of natural witches. The one involving you and the demon and your own death. Tell me about that one." Aedan made sure that her voice was low, so that Rhia knew she meant business.
"Aedan, I don't--"
"Tell me, Rhia."
"Tell her, child. She deserves to know everything," Christophe said gently. "And you, drink your tea." The last was less gently. Aedan rolled her eyes and picked up the mug to sip at her tea. She shot Christophe a look that asked if he was happy, then gave her attention back to Rhia.
"I was watching the events of the dream unfold from a distance. Part of it but not," Rhia began, then sipped her tea again. She heaved a sigh, shook her head. "I watched as the summoner, cloaked in a hooded robe, had two people bring forth a victim. She was tied down inside an inverted pentagram. He slit her wrists to bring forth her blood, then started chanting in a demonic tongue. Magic filled the air. It was foul and heavy and oppressive. Then the woman screamed and her belly was just... huge and swollen and distended."
"He brought the demon into the world through her?"
"Yes. Her belly grew and grew. Then she had contractions and the demon actually crawled from between her thighs. There was an umbilical cord, Aedan. It was a fully formed demon given flesh. And it ate the woman."
"You. You mean the demon ate you. After you gave birth to it." Aedan's tone was flat and stubborn. She knew what was coming and she was not pleased. Not at all.
"He's planning on bringing the demon fully into the world, Aedan. He's going to make it a flesh and blood demon. And he plans on using me to do so." Rhia said.
"So the best course of action for you is to intentionally make yourself bait?"
"It makes sense, Aedan. I'm a natural witch. I can help you catch the summoner. I can protect myself. I--"
Aedan slid from the stool and paced into the living area of her apartment, then swung back and pinned Rhiannon with a stare. "I was at a crime scene today, Rhia. Did your visions tell you that? Did they tell you that the victim knew he was a target and was ready for the demon? He thought he was. He thought he could protect himself. And when he used his blessed dagger to injure the demon, the demon picked him up and slammed him into the floor and ceiling repeatedly until his head was a battered, misshapen mess! You cannot protect yourself from that, Rhiannon! And I will not let you make a target of yourself. I almost lost Minette to a lunatic. I won't lose you, too."
"Aedan," Rhia began, but the look Aedan shot the other woman silenced whatever she was going to say. Christophe came around the breakfast bar and stopped only a few inches from her
"You need the help, Aedan. I have been unsuccessful in locating the summoner," he told her. She stared at him with wide, disbelieving eyes.
"I am not going to ask her to put her life on the line. That isn't her job!" Aedan spat.
"It isn't your job, either. And you aren't asking. She's offering."
"The mother fucking badge that says I'm a Federal Marshal says different," she snarled. "And I don't care if the Pope or Goddess herself fucking promotes her to the position. I will not allow it."
It was Rhia's turn to slide off her stool. She crossed over to where Aedan stood and stared at her, arms crossed over her chest. "I am not a child, Aedan. You don't get to make this decision for me. Its mine to make. And I've decided that I'm going to help you find this sick bastard and put an end to him. Anything that happens to me is on me. No one else. But I would really, really like it if you could help make sure nothing happens to me. I've got too much to live for here. Friends and loved ones. I'd like to keep it that way for as long as possible."
Aedan was dangerously close to telling both of them to get the fuck out of her apartment. She was too tired for this. Too done in by everything she'd seen over the course of the past twenty four hours. There was no way she could make a rational, informed decision about Rhia's desire to help at the moment. She needed sleep in the worst way. So she took a deep breath. And another. And another. Took them until she'd calmed to her almost normal state. Then she looked them both in the eye to let them know she was done with this shit.
"I can't make this decision right now. I need to sleep and clear my head. I have been up for more than a day and I've dealt with more shit today than I really wanted to. So I'm going to ask both of you to leave. Let me sleep. Let me shower. Let me eat. Then I'll think about it. But not until then. Please."
Rhia gave a half smile and nodded, then leaned in and hugged Aedan. "Thank you. I know this is the last thing you want to agree to. I know you'll feel responsible if anything were to happen. But it won't. I trust you to have my back."
"I haven't said yes, yet. Just that I'll consider it. Now go. Leave. I am about to fall flat on my face and I really don't want you to see that."
"You shouldn't be alone," Christophe remarked, giving her a good once over.
"Not alone. Bobby Lee is out in the parking lot, keeping an eye on me. And I have my gun. I'll be fine. Go. Don't worry about me," she told him. Both of them. Rhiannon looked like she wanted to argue, but Aedan cut her off simply by motioning to the door with one hand. The two of them stared a few seconds longer, obviously reluctant to leave her, then finally turned and headed for the door. Rhia shot her one last look before stepping out into the hall. The door closed after them to leave her apartment feeling terribly empty and lonely.
Brushing that feeling aside, Aedan went to the door and engaged the locks. She considered, very briefly, the notion of cleaning up after their little tea party. But it wasn't important and she was just simply too tired to care about the mess. After going through the routine of ensuring everything was locked, she headed for the bedroom. She made a brief pit stop in the bathroom, then stripped her clothes off and climbed into her bed.
She was already asleep before her head even touched the pillow.
~*~
She woke in a rush of panicked confusion and crippling fear. Her hand automatically brought the gun out from under the pillow and up before her as she sat straight up in bed, eyes wild and unseeing as she tried to remember who and where she was.
"You haven't had that particular nightmare in a long time." The voice cut through the fog and helped her focus on the here and now. She found her gun aimed straight at Edward's head, hand steady and sure despite the fact that it felt like she was shaking apart on the inside.
"Not since you came into my life," she whispered. He seemed amused that she had the gun trained on him, but he didn't move. Simply watched as she took a breath while her hand absently went through the motions of securing her weapon. She had to stop and think a moment when her thumb slid the safety on because she was sure she'd left it on when she'd put the gun under her pillow and she couldn't remember taking the safety off. The gun went back under the pillow, allowing Aedan to use her free hand to push her hair from her face. The other hand was pressed against her chest, holding the sheet in place so she didn't give Edward a show.
"You look like shit, Aedan," he said softly.
"Thanks. I've been working at it hard to ensure I got it just right," she replied flippantly. He frowned at that, then stood and tossed clothing at her.
"I'll be in the other room. Don't make me wait too long."
"Yes, Dad," she shot back, then shot him the bird when he turned to give her a stare. He was gone without saying anything else. Aedan was seriously tempted to flop back into the pillows and go to sleep. But Edward wouldn't let that happen. He obviously had business to discuss. She sighed and glanced at the clock beside her bed. It was barely past two. She couldn't be sure, but she thought she'd only gone to sleep an hour or so ago. She needed to check on her schedule for the evening. If it wasn't too booked, she was going to have Craig rearrange her appointments and take the night off. If she didn't...
Frowning, Aedan slid from her bed and made quick work of putting on the clothes Edward had tossed at her. She wasn't going to keep him waiting if she could help it. First, she didn't want to deal with his temper or his threats. Second, she wanted to go back to sleep. Fortunately, it was Edward. He was notorious for keeping things short and sweet.
Clothes in place, Aedan joined Edward in the sparsely decorated living area of her apartment. He handed her a cold can of Coke and motioned toward the couch. She didn't need to be told twice and took a seat, curling up in the corner with her back against the arm and her hands wrapped around her caffeine injection. Edward sat, keeping some distance between them, and gave her a hard stare.
"You didn't shoot Bobby Lee, did you?" she asked quietly, then popped the top and took a drink.
"No. But I did have a conversation with him and he said you've been pushing too hard lately." Edward sounded... concerned. Which was not like him. Aedan avoided rolling her eyes by closing them and taking a breath.
"Is everyone up in my business? I mean, I'm pretty sure leather boy has everyone reporting my every bowel movement to him." The comment earned a faint chuckle from her companion. "I expect that from him. That's how he rolls. But you? Being all concerned and shit? Frankly, that's kind of scary and I don't know if I like the implications behind it."
"You're a friend, Aedan," he told her. There was an honest sincerity in his voice she couldn't recall having heard before. She frowned at that and took another drink. "I am going to be up in your business when I have to be. You obviously aren't taking care of yourself. And I don't know what kind of shit is going on between you and Jean Claude. I don't want to know. But I know that, whatever it is, it is seriously fucking with your head right now. And you cannot afford that distraction."
"I'm fine, Edward."
"No, Aedan. You're really not. Have you looked at yourself in the mirror lately? You look worse than some corpses I've seen."
"I look a damn sight better than the corpses I saw today," she told him, a touch of affront in her voice.
"Tell me," he instructed. She took a deep breath and a fortifying drink of her Coke, then started talking about the crime scenes. She told him of the dead lycanthrope first, making sure to provide him with every last detail she could remember. She left off the fight with Dolph, instead focusing their attention on the deeds and how she felt this meant the murderers were devolving. Their acts were becoming more and more depraved as time went on. When he was satisfied she'd told him everything about the first crime scene, she started on the next one. She even went so far as to tell him about Rhiannon and Christophe's visit, what Rhia had told her and what she'd offered to do.
"Wait. Hold on. You said the summoner wants to fully bring the demon into the world. What does that mean?" Edward asked.
"He wants to give it a flesh and blood form. Not human possession, because demons can be cast out of a human's body. An actual, physical, flesh and blood demon form. If that was to happen... I don't know if anyone could stop it."
Edward stared at her a moment or two, face serious and intent. "Is that even possible? I don't know much about demons, but that doesn't seem like something that's possible."
"I don't know, Edward. This is the first I've encountered a demon. I know Anita came up against one. But nothing like this was going on so... I guess its possible?" Aedan shook her head and sipped at her Coke some more. "Possible or not, I don't like it. Not at all. I don't want Rhia to get involved."
"She's already involved, whether you like it or not. Better you agree to her plan and keep an eye on her than leave her to fend for herself. That dream of hers suggests she's going to be part of this at some point. She'll stand a better chance of surviving if she has you backing her." He was silent a moment, then closed some of the distance between them. Aedan watched him warily, not sure what this new tactic meant for her. Edward wasn't one for closeness. "And you need to sleep. So you can be there to protect her. I don't know everything you've gotten yourself into here, Aedan. I can tell you're over your head. I can tell its ripping you apart. You need to lean on someone who understands and can help."
"There is no one. Because after I take care of the demon summoner, and after I find the lycanthrope murderers and bring them down, there will always be someone or something else." She paused to have a drink, gave her head a shake and made a scoffing sound. "Hell, I'm going to be looking over my shoulder for the rest of my life simply because I've got the fucking council keeping an eye on me."
He frowned at that. "The council? I thought you'd settled things with them. They already sent Padma and Belle to see for themselves."
"Apparently that wasn't good enough."
"How do you know?"
"I had a conversation tonight. With a member of a very elite group of professional assassins." She made a sound that was supposed to be a laugh. The look he gave her asked the question he wasn't going to put into words. Aedan nodded her head.
"You met with them?"
"I met with one of them, yes. He found me in the cemetery after a zombie raising." The look he gave her suggested he was mad that she hadn't mentioned it before. And that he wished he'd been there. She shrugged a shoulder. It wasn't like he'd have been able to protect her. She knew better. And so did he. Sighing, she waved her hand to let him know that part wasn't important. "He told me that I have made the list of the cabal that's behind Anita's death."
Edward's face went empty and still. There was nothing there to see or read. It was almost as good as the masks that vampires wore when they wanted to keep their thoughts and feelings to themselves. "They want you dead now."
"Yup. Apparently, I shouldn't have had a fit and raised all those zombies at Jean Claude's little party. They don't like that I'm as powerful as Anita was." More powerful, actually, but she wasn't going to give voice to that bit. "So my visitor showed up to warn me that they want me dead. Also, it seems some of his elite group are members of this cabal. Meaning they were behind Anita's death. Meaning they've given me just cause to cut their fucking hearts out of their chests."
"You aren't going near them. Any of them. You let me worry about Anita's killers from now on. I don't want you out on that limb."
Aedan was too tired to get angry with him. "I'll tell you like you told me. I'm involved in it, whether you want me to be or not. If I get the chance, I'll take it. But I'll tell you like I told Rhiannon and Christophe earlier. I'm too tired to deal with your macho attitude right now. We'll talk about it after I sleep. For now, though, I'm going back to bed. You know where the door is. You let yourself in. You can let yourself out."
She finished off her Coke and put the can down on the nearest flat surface, then rose to her feet. Edward stood with her and stared at her a moment or two. "Go get some sleep. I'll stay and keep watch."
Well. Alright, then.
(no subject)
Date: 2017-10-17 01:24 pm (UTC)Excellent work, hon. I enjoyed it muchly. I especially liked the impromptu tea party and Edward trying to talk a little sense into Aedan. Not that I think it will work overly much, but one can hope.
(no subject)
Date: 2017-10-17 02:07 pm (UTC)the tea party was an out of the blue thing. i just had this image of Aedan saying "I don't drink tea." and Christophe turning to her to say "You do today." and then the rest of it kind of sprang up around that. i suspect you're right in that Aedan won't listen. but someone has to try, right? cos she sure as hell isn't listening to anyone else at this time.
glad you liked it, hon, and thanks for reading! <3