Chapter One: A Day In The Life—Day 1
5:47 a.m.
"That is lovely shared living space attire, really." I tilt my head up just enough to stare at him over the rim of my glasses. Forearms resting on the counter of the island, a forty-seven paged resting report in the middle of them.
"Shit!" he jumps spinning around, the door of the fridge hitting his back. "What the hell are you doing?"
"Case work, what are you doing?" I smirk, running my eyes over his body which happened to be covered in nothing more than a pair of black, jockey underwear better known as tighty-whities. Always pictured him as a boxers man—maybe even commando but this, this was just—a wonderful morning surprise.
"I was thirsty," he just stares at me like a deer in headlights. "Are we outta Gatorade?"
"We? I wasn't aware there was a we happening when it came to my fridge." I smirk and have to run my tongue along the points of my teeth to keep from laughing at the look he gives me.
"You're not very nice in the mornings Doc,"
"I expect to have quiet, alone time in the morning. Not find an over grown man child raiding my fridge that already has a hard enough time staying full due to your bottomless pit of a fiancée."
"Over grown man child?" his brows raise in the way only he can do, giving me that 'the hell you say' look he tends to get. God it's sad that I know the looks he gets. After a moment he looks down at himself, eyes widening and I'm pretty sure he is blushing—too dark to tell. "Oh! My bad Doc, didn't even realize."
"Mm-hm," I nod and try not to look at him otherwise I know I'll give in and laugh.
"I normally wear boxers, I just—well see the thing is Lil Mama—"
"Nope. Stop right there, don't want to know the rest of that sentence."
"I'm just tryna say that I don't normally wear things this tight—you've given me physicals." he starts to do this supposedly subtle flexing as he steps out of the fridge. "Not that I'm ashamed of what I'm working with here, but it must a little uncomfortable for you. Mostly naked man in the kitchen in the wee hours of the morning who just happens to also be man candy—but taken."
"Hale, I'm a lesbian. I like women, strictly—as in no men at all. I'm also a doctor, one that has poked and prodded you on more than one occasion." My smirk grows as I slide off the stool, reaching out grabbing my mug of coffee. "You're also Kenzi's betrothed, I see you as a brother—" I nod, making a little bit of a disturbed face.
"But—still like a sexy badass right?"
"More—like an eunuch type." I have to turn away beginning toward the stairs otherwise I will undoubtedly bust out laughing at the look of pure horror coming over him.
"Whoa. Whoa. Whoa. Doc," I hear his heavy footsteps quickly following behind me. "Doc, you don't mean—"
"Oh yeah, I do. Basically a Ken doll to me," this time I have to bite my tongue to keep from laughing.
"Lauren, I'm not eunuch, ask Kenz." I just keep heading up the stairs leaving him at the bottom. "Doc, come on. Pick another word—go back to brother."
I just shake my head and press my lips tightly together hoping I can make it to my room before finally letting out my laugh that I had been holding for far too long, my sides beginning to hurt from doing so. Oh, God I had a mean sense of humor in the mornings. That'll teach him to intrude on my morning routine.
3:22 p.m.
"Oh, alright then." I say looking away from the horribly disturbing image of Dyson and Tamsin mid-kiss. Her sitting on my exam table with her legs wrapped around his waist, hands in his hair—not enough alcohol in the world to wipe this away. "I will get the hose." I continue walking in, tossing my folder on my desk, letting them compose themselves.
"Sorry," Tamsin let outs in that annoying little voice she tends to do with the matching face—still don't like her—can't bring myself to get past-get past our history. Clearing my throat shaking the memory from my mind I turn around to find her giving that little wave as if she was some doe-eyed, high-school, cheerleader.
"Going so soon?"
"Gonna miss me?" she spins around rising a brow and I have to resist the urge to toss my stapler at her.
"Would it kill you to be nicer to her?"
"This is me being nice," I turn back around to face him. "It is,"
"I've seen you be nicer to serial killers,"
"Well, I liked them better." I smirk and hand him the folder which he doesn't take right away but rather stares at me disapprovingly for a moment. "If it matters I only liked them a LITTLE bit better,"
"You've been hanging around The Morrgian too much,"
"Hasn't she? She's gotten mean," I try not to laugh at Hale's voice as he walks in, the sound of the door announcing his presence before his words. "Dys," he says pleasantly doing that manly hand slapping slash momentary holding thing—whatever happened to a handshake? He turns to me, smile vanishing as his eyes narrow. "Doctor Lewis."
"Are you two having a lovers quarrel again? Do you need to be alone?"
"She KNOWS what she did."
"Okay." He shakes his head looking back down to the folder beginning to flip through it—he isn't reading it. I don't know why he bothers to pretend.
"In there is the autopsy for those three most recent bodies, now I'm serious this time. Do NOT give me anymore work, I am falling behind on my own."
"The great Lauren Lewis cannot manage to multitask?" Hale tilts his head, pouting his lips. "Must be still on that human aging cycle, you know skills descending with every passing year."
"Keep it up," I smirk and give him the look that says that Dyson will find out exactly what I found him in this morning.
"Thanks Doc," Dyson blurts out, he has that 'dog with a bone' look—guess he was really reading.
He smacks Hale on the arm with the folder before heading toward the door, Hale following though he makes sure to give me a scowl the entire time until they reach about five feet from the door when he turns around.
"I'm not eunuch," he whispers and I really would have been able to hold out on chuckling until he left had Kenzi not been walking right in behind him as Dyson slipped out. "Babe," he says and stares at her for a moment and she just returns the awkward look.
"See you tonight," she smiles and pats his arm before continuing in. "Why did he just say he wasn't wearing a tunic?"
I can't help but laugh, oh God what my life has become.
5:58 p.m.
"I distinctively remember saying that I was done." I grumble walking through the three inches and counting of snow to meet Hale and Dyson who were standing over something in the middle of the sidewalk. Tamsin out on the street next to several patrol officers and their cars. "Evony is going to be pissed." I say but this time the playful annoyance I had have previously has gone away.
"Something tells me she'll be okay with this," Dyson says refusing to look at me. "Here," he says handing me a pair of gloves, I can't see past them but I put the gloves on all the same.
"Here," Hale says softly, suddenly the goofy fight we've been having all day even in text messages seemingly forgotten. A thin piece of white printer paper, a new times roman font in twelve—maybe thirteen size—nothing that screams why these two are acting so weird.
Then I look down at the paper,
My name is Karen Beattie,
Ask me how I can solve this case.
"Let me see her," I say as they step apart.
I don't know what I was expecting—maybe something brutal but this—it was brutal in a sense but it wasn't what one would expect after a message like that. A girl who is pretty, blonde, and young—very young, maybe sixteen or seventeen. She wasn't completely stripped, just in a white teddy that was more for comfort than sexual appeal by the looks of it.
No defensive marks from first glance, but she shares the similarities of the other kills I had been working on for the boys. The look of pure terror on her face, as if she had been scared to death—I ruled that out several times already and this would most likely be no different.
"How did you know this would be a match for your two's case?"
"We didn't, Lil Mama got a call—from her. We were coming to meet her,"
"When did you get the call?" I ask kneeling down beside the body, gently turning her face to get a closer look.
"Forty minutes ago, give or take a few." Dyson says taking the letter from me.
"Well, whoever called you wasn't her. She has been dead for hours,"
"Doc, I ain't no genius but I been doing this detective thing for a bit awhile—someone would have noticed a dead kid in the middle of the sidewalk."
"Then maybe she was placed here, because I highly doubt someone was lucky enough to stumble upon a random girl walking around town in a nighty with no shoes. Killed her and just so happened to have a note all nicely type up."
"Touchy, touchy."
"Not now Tamsin." Dyson says in that low, gravely whisper he does.
"Her hyoid is broken from the feel, no marks though—doesn't make sense—even post mortem she should have marks of some kind."
"You think this could be—"
"Don't." I snap looking up at the blonde. "We aren't there yet."
"Come on, it's not like we all haven't been thinking it—beside read the fucking note—who other than—"
"I said NOT to go there." I snap again, tone growing harder as I stand to meet her gaze. "We are not THERE yet, when we are—I will inform you, until then why don't you go back to pretending to be a real detective."
"Doc," Hale says softly.
"Yeah," I nod, taking a deep breath and turn around walking back between the boys but not before hearing Tamsin's voice one last time.
"Someone has bring up the fact that there is a possibility this could be her,"
8:43 p.m.
"Come on! Kibble and Bit Investigations!" Kenzi argues. Mouth full of pizza, beer in her other hand as she leans against Hale and her feet are firmly under my thigh. "Come on, it's classic—it's a play on words. Kibble for D-man cause he's a dog—"
"A wolf." He laughs leaning against Tamsin on the couch opposite us, this last beer finally taking a toll on him-seven in an hour will do that too you.
"Whatever! You run around in the woods, shit on newspaper and are favorable to hitting it from the back—"
"I can vouch for that one." Tamsin interrupts raising her beer in the air—not very tactful but okay.
"Oh GOD!" Kenzi and Hale let out together, the four of them quickly shifting into the second stage of being drunk.
"Point is—dog equals Kibble. And I am tiny so I equal Bit. Kibble and Bit Investigations!"
"No." he says flatly, everyone falling silent by the harshness in his tone—then he suddenly busts out laughing causing everyone else to do the same, myself included.
"Fine. You pick a damn name then."
"It has been three and a half years—let it go." Tamsin pipes in and I have to take another drink, the sound of her voice annoying me beyond reason.
"We need a name though!"
"Kenz, we've managed this long without one—"
"Lo-Lo, sexy beast—tell the wolf and his little birdie that my name kicks major ass."
"I'm not in this,"
"Why?"
"Because no matter whether you name yourselves Kibble and Bit Investigations, Kick Ass Investigations or remain nameless as you have for the past almost four—count them, FOUR year-it's not going to change the end result," I pause taking a gulp of my beer, Dark Belch—stupid name but man was it addictive. "That I—someone who doesn't even work for said investigative service—will continue to solve ALL of your cases."
"Bitch!" Kenzi laughs, pulling her foot out to kick me. "It's kinda true." She lets out another laugh, kicking me once more before shoving her foot back under my thigh. "I'm still the most kickass out of all of ya'-but you DoctorHotPants—can remain the sexiest."
"Also the drunkest, Lil Mama. Lemme just take this from you before you start tryna come on to the Doc," he laughs trying to take her bottle from her.
11:39 p.m.
I stare out my semi iced over window looking out onto the street watching the relentless snow continue to fall. My shoulder pressing against the wall, arms folded over my chest. I hear a noise coming from my bed and instinctively I look, it's just Evony shifting—she gets restless when I leave in the middle of the night. A sigh coming through a sad smile I turn my attention back out to the street to watch the same guy who has been trying to get his car to start for the past twenty minutes.
Not that I took pleasure in his suffering, and I had half of mind to go down there and help but I just wanted something to focus on other than my own problems.
I know the idea of me and Evony is a conundrum wrapped in a riddle which happens to be wrapped inside of an enigma that also happens to be wrapped in another layer of a puzzle. We started at friends—another oddity but we just clicked.
Underneath all the layers of repugnant there was something that was almost gentle. There was something that understood the feelings I had hidden away and was scared to share with anyone—even myself at times. She could see that and she accepted the worst of me. I wondered from time to time if she started off like me and over time she just became what she was—maybe I would become that way too if I had lived for dozens of centuries.
It was nice to have a friend who did, who I could talk to about anything and well she was still Evony so friend or not sexual advances were always there.
The even bigger oddity was that she was patient. It's not like she waited around the past five years on pins and needles for me to come around but every so often she would let me know that she was still interested—in more than sex. Somewhere along the lines of friendship, loneliness and lust the lines got blurred.
Do I seem myself marrying her?
Of course not, but this was nice. She kept my bed warm, she kept me satisfied in more ways than one and surprisingly she kept my mind stimulated. I guess the term for us would be—loosely committed?
She hadn't been much of a fan of my rouge side project two years ago but she let it go—eventually—probably about the same time I began putting out.
I hadn't intended to do it—I was just bored one night and began thinking about things—Taft. I began to wonder if it was possible for Fae DNA to actually mix successfully with human DNA, I mean Dyson ate him minutes after so it wasn't like I could use him as a test subject. As it turns out I'm a bigger genius than I initially gave myself credit for.
It was six months before it took but it finally did, and well—the short end of it is that me and Kenzi are Fae now. That and Evony can parade me around being the only one to ever successfully do so—possibly another reason she let the issue go.
Woman loves the praises she gets for having me 'attached' to her.
Kenzi is Tizok, something simple yet powerful all at the same time. She has no real skills or abilities whichever you prefer to say but she does repel them. Not a single Fae power works on her, not Hale's or Vex's or even Evony's-she was pissed about that fact. Turns out our own DNA has a lot to do with what we can and cannot become—she didn't have many choices. Tizok or a shifter—no guarantees on what she would shift into so we went with the sure bet.
I on the other had taken a more aggressive approach, I had a few more options, and apparently my DNA is like the blood type O-all is welcomed-mostly. The most compatible was a succubi—HA. NEVER. Then came Evony's ability—Vex's ability—Tamsin's-oddly enough not Dyson's though. I had an old friend who popped up from time to time, she is dead now but she was a species of the feline, genus called the Blacktails, basically decedents from panthers—very rich in Native American history.
Haven't really took the abilities for a test drive—haven't had time but I'll get around to it.
Another major thing I never thought would happen was my close relationships with Kenzi, Dyson and Hale—well Hale was already a friend but now he was like a brother. Despite my teasing this morning he really did live here—kinda. He was here when I went to sleep, woke up, ate dinner—all day really when he wasn't working. I honestly don't know why he keeps his own place but that is something between him and Kenzi that I won't touch.
I bitch about it sometimes but I really did love having the two of them living here. Kenzi was an accident, after everything that had happened she couldn't stay at that apartment and I offered to let her stay a few nights—it's been nearly five years now.
Honestly though she had become the little, annoying sister I never had. We still fought—a lot, but it was nice and at the end of the day we always ended up on the couch joking about something or other. She reminded me—or rather forced me to not be so serious and I think I needed that.
At first I saw her as a baby duck that had imprinted on me after everything that happened with B-with everything. Not to mention Hale coming back from the dead—I've always wanted to ask if that is why she won't just allow him to live here officially or why they've been engaged for five years but something's aren't to be touched—for both of us.
Dyson was another one I could now consider a brother, I helped him break his one love for all time and suddenly he wasn't such a jackass—who would have thought. I guess being chained to a selfish-I am stopping myself there—no need to get into this now.
Tamsin though, I will never like nor will I ever trust her. Not in last life, not in this one and not in the next. She will never be anything more than something I have to tolerate because she is dating my so called big brother.
"Baby," I look over at the whisper, Evony's eye heavy as she tilts her head up from the pillow to look at me.
"Hey," I smile and walk over, taking a seat at the edge of the bed. There were times when she was so gentle, normally when she was waking or falling asleep. "It's late, go back to sleep." Speaking softly, running the back of my fingers over her cheek earning a small smile.
"What are you doing?"
"My brain is on overdrive working the case, can't re—"
"Rest until you put it together." She nods against the pillow with a blissfully sleepy smile. "Have I ever told you how brilliant you are?"
"When you aren't trying to show me off?" I raise a brow and she makes what is supposed to be a scowl. "Yes, babe—you have told me." Leaning down my lips gently find hers earning a quick response.
"Don't be too long, I need my cuddle buddy."
"Yes, ma'am." I push myself off the bed.
"God, that is unbelievably sexy when you say that. You sure you want to work and not—"
I turn back around upon reaching the window and she is already asleep. Guess it is a good thing I wasn't in the mood otherwise I would have been S.O.L. Laughing softly to myself I look back out of the window, this same guy still trying to push his car.
My mind wandering over to actual work—wonderful.
Seven bodies now, all the same M.O. only difference was none of them had been posed and there was never a note—let alone one that implicated me. There were never signs of a struggle and this was the first to have showed any signs of a physical altercation. They all had the look of pure terror, eyes void and icy—every single mineral in their body depleted. It was a conundrum—one that I would have took an odd pleasure in solving but the more that showed up the more the inevitability of knowing who this was grew.
Despite my distaste for that—Valkyrie, I knew she was right this afternoon.
I just didn't want to hear it aloud—I still don't.
I wasn't stupid nor in denial—not anymore—that time had passed. I just held onto the tiny hope, that there was another explanation—I suppose today's find was going to discredit that notion though.
I just have to admit to myself what I've known since this started….
…..it was Bo…..
….she was back…..