Once when her curiosity had gotten the better of her Alexandra Eames had asked her partner and fellow alpha Robert Goren, if his daemon Adara had gotten into things when she was young. Goren hadn't really given her an answer but his brief, tight-lipped smile had been genuine. Every new crimes scene or suspect's house as he was bent over a victim or inspecting some minute detail, Adara took as a chance to poke her nose or climb into anything she could. Valerian, Eames' pit bull terrier daemon, remained quietly seated watching Adara was an air of strained patience. It had driven Eames crazy at first until she realized Goren and Adara did it on purpose to prod suspects into getting flustered. A flustered suspect usually didn't think to carefully about what they were saying. One of their favourite tricks was for Adara to get her horn's 'caught' on something, escalating situations into a level of uncomfortable awkwardness as Goren fiddled to free her. Of course, Adara's presence in general usually made folks uncomfortable. When police arrived at a crime scene the sight of their daemons, usually a pack of fierce dog breeds, comforted or scared you depending on which side of the law you were currently standing. Adara stuck out like a sore thumb, never once had Eames ever heard of a cop with a rabbit daemon much less someone who had ever served in the military. (It was no secret that either that alphas who ended up with smaller or stereotypically 'gentle' daemons were often a lot more aggressive as if they had to compensate for something). Frankly the man was getting under her skin and a few quiet and casual inquiries to others had confirmed that Goren and Adara had that effect on a lot of people. However, Adara wasn't exactly a rabbit, the two long and sharp horns atop her head made that quite clear. As soon as she'd had a moment after her first introduction to Detective Goren, Alex had had to look up just what the hell his daemon was.
A jackalope. How eccentric.
Daemons that were a blend of species maybe most people really nervous, old superstitions dying hard with the belief that such daemons meant a person was mad, sick or worse: a witch. Goren didn't talk about his family or his past so it was possible but they spent so much time together and Eames had never once seen so much of an inkling from Goren of magic. His file didn't list any magical licences (a requirement since the mid-seventies for any witches who wanted to use magic), he didn't have a wand registered to him. Yet sometimes when she watched him closely at a crime scene, when Adara was busy causing a distraction, she'd see him let his fingertips linger on a body or specific spot and his eyes would flutter. It made Valerian very nervous and it was at his prodding she had put in for a new partner.
"I don't like it," he said one night as they lay in bed, Alex's hand rest on his head. When her omega, Joe, had been alive their daemons had slept at the foot of the bed together, pit bull and dachshund curled tight together. Since their death the bed had seemed too big, too empty and so Valerian now slept curled against her.
"Mm," Alex was lost in thought.
"What is he?"
More than human? More than a man? Therianthropes were said to have odd daemons. She really doubted he was a witch, there was no way he'd be able to pass without using magic unnoticed while working in the heart of 1PP. New York's finest simply weren't that sloppy.
"Alex?" Valerian whined impatiently. He wasn't going to let this go and really neither could she.
Alex rolled out of bed and winced at the shock of cold floor under her feet and padded into the main room of her apartment where she kept her computer, her daemon at her heels. An hour, a cup of coffee and a pile of ever growing frustrations later she hadn't learned anything new. The same out-of-date works and old speeches on how half-breed daemons often showed an unstable personality.
Half-breed.
"Huh," Alex muttered.
"What is it?" Valerian sat up on his hindquarters with his paws on the desk, peering at her screen.
"We've been focusing on Adara and what she means as his daemon," Alex ran a finger over her lower lip.
"And? That's a practical and useful way to gain insight into a person," Valerian shook his head, his ears flapping, a dog daemon's version of a shrug.
"Maybe the half-breed we should be focusing on isn't Adara at all." She glanced down at her daemon, Valerian's ears pricked up. "It sure would explain a few things and he might not have any magical abilities he'd need to declare. Especially since he was born here," Eames rubbed at her face, coffee and riddle of the daemon or not, it was far too late for her to be thinking clearly and she had to be at work way too soon. It was time for bed. She had intended to pursue the puzzle that was Goren/Adara further but as their caseload piled up her personal curiosities had to be put aside. Her frustrations with Goren started to fade as they worked together on body after kidnapping after robbery and they became more than fellow officers in blue, he really started to feel like a partner who had her back so she wouldn't have to take her eyes off of what was in front of her.
She had worried Adara would be in danger, such a small creature and the hardened scum they often found themselves dealing with often had large and nasty beasts as daemons. Adara certainly didn't seem to realize how small she was, blinding a wolverine and nearly tearing out it's throat as Goren wrestled down it's human. When the suspect had been subdued by uniforms Goren had pulled out his handkerchief and started to wipe Adara's face and horns clean.
"That was some quick thinking," Valerian complimented Adara. No eyes, daemon or human, had been on her when she'd struck. Once again overlooked for her size, her fluffy appearance, her horns dismissed as non-threatening. Goren's eyes were still sparkling with the rush of adrenalin as he unconsciously sized up Eames as another alpha competitor. She ignored it, Goren had excellent control for an alpha, his occasionally brief outbursts usually brought on by an intellectual challenge rather than a physical one. If it weren't for his imposing size and the fact she'd smelled him at the squadron when his body wash had started to wear off after a long day she'd swear he was a beta. Of course, as a tiny alpha herself she should know better than anyone that size meant nothing. Her own omega had been several inches taller.
"You would have done the same," Adara pulled away from Goren's handkerchief now stained red, "I just happened to be closer this time."
"The guy said he had a gun. He could have shot you," Valerian countered, not to mention the wolverine daemon was almost three times the size of the jackalope.
"He was lying," Adara started to sniff around the room looking for anything the perp might have left behind that could be useful for the DAs.
"How did you know that?"
The man had shouted through the open door over his wolverine's howls he had a gun and would blast anyone he saw getting too close. As soon as the words had left his mouth Adara had made an impressive leap at the wolverine which had shocked everyone to distraction enough that Goren had been able to tackle him to the ground.
"We just knew. We felt it," Adara looked up at Goren as if daring him to say anything else. He didn't seem particularly bothered by her spilling… Whatever it was she was spilling. The back of Eames' neck prickled.
"Alex, if you have questions go ahead and ask," Goren was looking at her, his face expressionless. She swallowed, it had only been a few days since she'd rescinded her request for a new partner and prying into his personal life now seemed rude.
"Are you a witch?"
He smiled, "No, but my mother is. I don't have any ability to cast spells, can't mix a potion worth a damn or fly a pine."
Half-breed.
"But you have some sort of abilities?" She wasn't sure if she continue asking, they were alone in the room together but at any moment another uniform could overhear or walk in.
"I have what's classified as some minor extra-sensory perception, I can tell a lie if it's told backed by high emotions. Sometimes touching things reveals certain truths to me, the witches call this empathy," he cocked his head at her, "When I was little I could taste it when my mother wove magic."
That was the extent of their conversation because the captain arrived on scene demanding to know what happened.
Later that day as Eames drove them back to 1PP so they could get started on what was going to be their paperwork for the new few nights Adara spoke up from the back seat where she rode with Valerian: "I don't mind sharing this stuff about us with you two."
Eames glanced at the jackalope in her mirror then looked at Goren who was staring at his hands. Was he embarrassed?
"You're a good cop and I think you're our friend," Adara reached out a paw and pet Valerian on the nose. The pit bull whuffed a gust of air at the smaller daemon. Goren was looking out the window now- he was embarrassed. Well, well, what a big ol' softie.
"Thanks, Adara," Eames said then didn't say anymore. When Alex pulled into her parking spot, Goren opened his door, hesitated then turned back to his partner.
"Thank you, Alex," he said softly.
Eames nodded. She might not have his 'extra-sensory perception' but she could hear what he was leaving unsaid.