Soul Sucker

Ch. 5

    "Fi, we've got another one.  You wanna hurry up and get here before the authorities show up?  It be bad if any of them was a Sensitive or something."
    Fiona grunted and rolled over in bed, opening an eye to glare at the red LED lights of her clock.  Four fifteen.  Why did people have to kill each other at night?  Why didn't they do it in the day like civilized people so that she could get some sleep?  She didn't think she had a full night's sleep since... she couldn't remember when.
    A cough wracked her body and she spat out a mouthful of blood.
    "Fi?  Are you okay?"
    "Yeah.  I'm alright, Tess.  Be there as soon as I can.  What's the address?"
   

    Another Fae murder.  This had to be the third this past week.  Whoever was doing it was getting desperate for magic. 
    "What are they doing with it?!" she croaked out, leaving the Uber taxi without a backward glance.  She really needed to get a car.  Hard to pay for one without money though.
    The neighborhood was a nice one.  Not as upscale as Charmaine's almost mansion, but close.  As Tess had promised, the door was unlocked.  She let herself in and found the body crumpled at the foot of the stairs.  Blood was splashed everywhere.  Fiona swore.  No way this didn't look like a murder.  The killer was desperate...
    The police would be all over this.  That was bad... Fiona paused.  Or maybe it wasn't.  Maybe she could work with the mundane police to find the killer.  If it was the right team.  Maybe what this needed was a Sensitive in the human police force to crack the case.  Fiona didn't have the time to wait for The Hunt; they were too busy avoiding the issue.  She didn't know if they were scared or simply blind to the subject or on the side of whoever was behind the whole thing.
    "Bastards," she grumbled.  Connor Michaels had stopped taking her calls and when she had shown up at his office, a couple other Hunters not so gently escorted her out the door.
    She pulled out her phone.  "Tess, is there any way to find out who is coming?"
    "What do you mean?  What are you thinking?"
    Fiona carefully avoided the splatters of blood.  "I mean, do we know all the sensitives and witches and what not on the police force?  Is there a way to see if any of them will be coming tonight?"
    "I've gotten pretty good at dispatching ones without.  I can try and get mundanes--"
    "No.  I want a human with power."
    "Sorry?"  her confusion was almost palpable.
    Fiona sighed, squatting beside the High Elf's body.  "I can't wait.  I am getting sicker.  I am going to die if this isn't figured out and I can't do it alone.  Dispatch a team with someone useful on it."
    Tess hesitated.  "Fi, I can't.  It is the opposite of what I am supposed to do!  My goal is to prevent them from finding out about us!"
    Fiona laughed.  It was a harsh gravelly sound that quickly turned into a choking cough.  She pressed the neck of her shirt to her mouth.  She took a breath and swallowed.  "Tessie, do you really think they don't know about us already?  Or at least have their suspicions?"
    The dispatcher didn't answer for a long moment.  "Alright," she said softly.  "A team will be on their way shortly."
    "Warn them that a bystander will be there."  She swiped her finger across the END CALL button.
    Fi shoved her phone back into her pocket and eyed the room around her.  She was no detective.  All she knew was that there was no magic floating around and the body was empty of innate power.  She also knew that it had been a lot of power.  She didn't know this fae's name, but she recognized him as one of the Great Council.  The mundanes probably had skewed fairy tales and legends about him--like Rumplestiltskin or something else equally ridiculous. 
    She debated not having a simulacrum.  Should she bother?  She had no way to hide the real body before the police showed up.  But she couldn't let them have the real body either... She wavered.
    She hesitated too long.  A whine of sirens filled the air and seconds later blue and red lights flashed in the windows.  She sat back on her heels beside the body to wait.

***

    Joel Harrison and Hailey Barrow eyed the front door.
    "What do you make of it?"  Joel asked.
    "Warded.  Some kind of witch must have lived there.  Some kind of something anyway."
    Joel nodded. He could see the magic pulsating around the house almost as well as his partner.  Unlike his partner, he could actually use magic himself.  Uneasiness and excitement both rose inside him.  He could count on one hand the number of magical related incidents he had run across during his time on the force.  He knew Hailey's count was only a few higher than his own.
    "Well, let's go.  Watch yourself."
    Hailey rolled her eyes and released her seat belt.  "Yeah," she said, opening her door.  "You, too."
    Hailey paused at the gate.  "Passive or Active wards do you think?"
    Joel eyed the filaments floating around.  "Passive, I would say.  Just... be careful.  This is some powerful shit."
    Hailey shrugged and opened the gate, making her way up the steps to the front door.  It was unlocked.
    "Ready?" she asked Joel.
    "Yep.  Go ahead."
    Hailey pushed open the door, revealing a bloody mess and a young woman seated beside the body.
    The woman sat calmly, hands on her knees.  Before he had the chance to ask her to raise her arms, she put her hands in the air in a non threatening gesture.
    "Hey," she said.
    "Joel..." Hailey said, not taking her eyes off of the young woman.  "That's... she's not.."
    "What?"
    The woman waited patiently, unmoving.
    "She's not human."

*
    Here it comes, Fiona thought. 
    "She's not human."
    The male officer, Joel, shot a glance at his partner before returning his gaze to Fiona.
    "She's right."  Fiona replied.  "I'm not.  She can see through my glamor.  She must be a sensitive."
    "And a seer," the female officer added.  "Never seen you before though.  Or anything like you.  What are you?"
    "Cailinitheann."
    Neither human looked enlightened by this statement. 
    Fiona took a deep breath and let her glamour fall.  "I'm Fae."
    There.  It was done.  Silence reigned in the room.  Only their breathing and noises from outside broke it. 
    "So." Fiona continued.  "Now what?"  She wanted to hurry up and get past the awkwardness, the fear, the questions.  She wanted to get past to where she got to ask the questions and explain what was going on.
    The officers exchanged swift glances.  Fiona wondered if she was about to get arrested.  She was, after all, in a murder scene.
    "For the record, I did not kill this man."  Fiona continued as the male officer raised an eyebrow, " he is, incidentally, another fae.  Someone took his magic.  Which is why I am here."
    "Yes, why don't you explain why you are here, ma'am."  The officer stepped into the house, waving his partner in.  She closed the door behind them and the two approached, stopping just shy of the blood splatter radius. 
    "Get comfy then," Fiona said, not shifting from her position at the foot of the steps.  "It's not a short story."