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She tried to shield her head from the swirling fury of books circling her. Pages and papers twisted and slid off the walls of the small apartment. The tiny supernatural windstorm wreaked havoc on everything in reach.
“Tell her to stop!!” she shouted.
Michael used his hands to deflect some of the larger books from Jessica’s face. He was surprised by Hannah’s reaction. She had always been a little jealous, but this was beyond anything he’d seen from her before. He hoped she could still hear him.
“Hannah! Stop this! She’s just a friend. She’s not even my type!”
Jessica turned to look at him, her mouth open in surprise. “What the fuck, man. No need to be rude!”
The miniature cyclone slowed, and books began falling to the floor. Papers rained down from above, making a scattered mess all over the room. One last book flew sideways through the air and bounced off Jessica’s full bottom.
“Ow! You fucking bitch. I swear, I’ll come back here and cast a spell to banish you.” Jessica scanned the room with smoldering eyes but couldn’t find any physical manifestation of Hannah’s spirit.
Michael was mortified. “I’m sorry. I don’t know what got into her. I guess I’ve never had a guest in the apartment since…”
He didn’t finish. He didn’t have to. Jessica knew exactly what had happened to Hannah. She had been killed not long after William’s murder. They suspected the deaths were linked but hadn’t figured out the connection yet.
Jessica straightened her long, curly hair and nodded at the front door. “Can we step outside for a minute?”
They went into the hallway and closed the apartment door behind them. Just to be safe, she walked farther down the hall to the stairwell entrance at the end of the building. She looked back toward the apartment, hoping Hannah couldn’t travel this far.
“Michael, you can’t keep this up. I know you’ve been feeding her. I can tell. You look terrible! It’s really taking a toll on you.”
He shook his head, but his graying hair betrayed him. “It’s ok. I’m just a little tired. I haven’t been sleeping well lately. I can handle it.”
“The fuck you can,” Jessica said. “She’s killing you. I know you love her, but whatever it is the two of you are doing is aging you like crazy. If you don’t care about yourself, think about this; do you want to find the person who was responsible?”
Michael’s face flushed red with anger. “Of course I do. That’s all I think about each and every day!”
“Good. I want that, too. But if you die early, we will not solve her murder — or William’s. Do you understand that? If you keep this up, you are going to die.”
He sighed, slumping his shoulders. “Ok, ok. I know, alright? I know this can’t go on for much longer. But what other choice do I have? Without me, she’s gone.”
Jessica stared at him for a few seconds, looked up at the ceiling, and said, “I know someone who might be able to help you. But you’re going to need to have an open mind about it. They aren’t exactly… human. But right now, I think we’re past the point of a normal solution anyway. I’ll set up a meeting if you’re up for it?”
Michael looked into her eyes and nodded. “Screw it. How much crazier can things get? Set it up…”
He was such an old-school detective that his instincts wouldn’t let him walk into a trap. He refused to meet them anywhere but in a public space where he would feel safe. So, Jessica arranged for them to get together in a local bar where he’d spent too much of his time lately. But, if that’s where he wanted to meet to feel safe, so be it.
They approached the dark-haired woman sitting at a table in the back, wedged into a corner far from the bar’s brighter lighting. Her white face glowed with stark beauty, but her eyes were impenetrable ebony pools that Michael found a bit unsettling.
Not exactly human? Yeah, no shit. He could already tell she wasn’t like any ordinary woman he’d ever met.
Jessica and Michael took a seat at her table. She raised an eyebrow and looked around with a smirk on her face. “Nice place. I’m so glad you insisted we meet here.”
“Thank you for coming, Valeria. We need help, and I didn’t know who else I could trust to ask. It’s a… unique situation.”
Valeria chuckled. “Isn’t it always? I’m not sure why you came to me, though. Why should I help you? What’s in it for me? I don’t make it a habit of getting involved in human drama.”
“Well, this isn’t exactly normal drama. Do you remember the murders we discussed when I suspected the Bloodtongues were involved? Michael is helping me investigate them. He’s an ex-cop.”
Valeria wrinkled her pretty nose and sat back in her seat. “Police. I don’t like the police. They haven’t exactly been our allies over the years.”
Michael shrugged. “Ex-detective. Anyway, I’m not part of that system now. This is personal. I’m investigating it on my own — with Jessica, of course.”
She sighed. “Fine, fine… A friend of Jessica’s is a human I won’t kill. So, why do you need my help? I already rescued your little friend here from the Bloodtongues before. If anything, you owe me a favor.”
Jessica glanced around the bar and leaned forward. “I need Michael, and he hasn’t been doing so well lately. His girlfriend was one of the victims, and he’s been keeping her tied to this world. I don’t want to get into the details of what they are probably doing, but it’s draining him. I can’t have him dying before we find the ones responsible. I’m sure you’d prefer that the police found the real suspects and stopped hunting you and yours down. So… I was wondering if you could help reenergize him as you and Roman did with me that night?”
Valeria’s mouth twitched in a tiny smile, and she leaned in to look closer at Michael. Her nostrils flared as she took in his scent, then her eyes widened. Looking slightly startled, she sat back in her chair and stared at him.
“Well, isn’t he interesting? This might be fun, after all. I tell you what; we actually could use some help handling the police. Our… ‘evening adventures’ stir up a bit of trouble now and again. Someone with connections could feed us information and perhaps guide investigations in new directions?”
Michael’s face clouded, but he finally nodded. “Fine. We can talk more about what you need. But, will you help me?”
“Oh, I will, pretty man. But we need to leave this classy establishment and go to my place before that happens. Understand?”
Jessica and Michael looked at each other briefly, then turned back to her. “Yes, we get it. Let’s go…”
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