PART ONE
Medical Examiner's office, early morning.
Detective Tracy Vetter yawned as she made her way down the corridor it had been a long night and she was ready to go home. She would've been home snuggled into her very big bed right now if she hadn't received that phone call as she was leaving.
"Hey Trac!" The examiner said as she looked up from one of the tables at the doorway. "Be with ya in a sec." Tracy nodded as she ran a hand through her short blond hair and went to sit on the corner of the desk over by the wall. "Results of examination are as follows…" The examiner continued in the microphone in front of her. "Victim's death resulted from severe blood loss due the severing of main artery."
She switched off the recorder and joined Tracy. "You look tired Blondie." She said as she propped her feet up on the desk. "Rough night?"
Tracy held up her hand. "Don't even get me started." She looked at the other woman. She was a couple of years younger than Tracy with curly dark black hair. "What's so urgent Mikki?"
Mikki Freeman pointed to the exam table. "She came in just after my shift started. Grace did the prelim before she left, nothing really out of the ordinary."
"Why do I sense a 'but' in there?"
Mikki looked through the clutter of papers on her desk. "You remember that circular that came out of the Montreal PD a few weeks ago?"
Tracy thought for a moment. "Vaguely."
"A-ha!" She said triumphantly. She glanced over it before handing it to Tracy. "Montreal had two cases similar to this. Now the ages weren't the same but both woman were fortune tellers and both had their throats cut in the same manner."
"So you're saying we've got a serial killer who hates fortune tellers?"
"I think it's more than that." She got and stood next to the body. "I think our killer was looking for something."
"Looking for what?"
"Someone with the Sight, the real Sight."
"You believe this woman could've been a Seer?"
"I'd stake my wand on it. I'm definitely getting the 'vibe' from her." Mikki suddenly got serious. "This guy was looking for something Trac and I think he found it and he killed grandma to prevent her from telling anyone else what it was she saw."
*~*
"How much longer are we going to play this game?" The voice seemed to come nowhere and everywhere. "You might as well stop running and face your destiny."
Emma Nelson huddled in the corner hoping the darkness will hide her from whoever was chasing her. She sat there shaking trying not to cry, breathe or do anything else that might give her away. She brought her knees up to her chest as some sort of protection as the sound of boots on the hardwood floor became louder.
"Now where oh where has my kitty gone?" Emma screamed as a hand grabbed her by the hair and pulled her up to her feet. "Bad kitty." The man said as he threw her across the floor.
Emma slammed into the far wall with a thud. "…why… are… you doing…"
She didn't get a chance to finish. The man picked her by the throat and held her against the wall. "Why am I doing this?" The man smiled at her. It was an evil smile that sent a chill through Emma's body. "It either you or me and I choose me." The man pulled a long thin knife from his belt. He held it in front of Emma's eyes letting her know what was coming. "Give your sisters my regards when you get to Hell."
Emma screamed as the knife entered her stomach…
She awoke with an audible gasp instantly bolting upright in her bed. She almost jumped out of her skin when she heard a knock on her bedroom door.
"Emma are you up? You're gonna be late for school."
"I'm up Mom." She shouted back through the door. "I'll be down in a few minutes."
"You're breakfast is on the table."
"OK Mom."
Emma slowly got up and made her way toward her bathroom. Looking at her reflection she didn't like what she saw. There were obvious dark circles forming under eyes.
For almost two weeks her sleep has been interrupted. Most of the time it was just an inability to go to sleep until very late, but when she manage to drift off her rest was always disturbed by the same nightmare of the man chasing, catching and then killing her.
Starting her shower, Emma removed her damp nightshirt and gasped when she saw the reflection in the full-length mirror on the wall behind her. Moving slightly to get a better look Emma saw a deep purple bruise on her right shoulder blade from…
"…where I slid into the wall." She whispered.
*~*
Degrassi Community School.
"I hope this won't be too much of a hassle for you dropping you into the middle of things like this." Mr. Raditch said as he escorted the young woman through the halls. "I can't understand why Mr. Wells left so abruptly."
"Perhaps he had some sort of family emergency." The woman said.
"That may be he wasn't very forthcoming with the details." They stopped at the classroom where she'll be assigned. "Here we are the jewel of Degrassi Community School, our Media Immersion class. Mr. Simpson left lesson plans for you to follow." He gestured toward the desk.
She quickly glanced over the folder on the desk. "There's nothing here about exams."
"I spoke to Mr. Simpson a few days ago and he has every intention of being back to work by then."
"So he's better then? It was my understanding that he was ill and might not be well enough to finish the year."
"You heard that he's been undergoing treatment for cancer?" She nodded. "According to Archie, Mr. Simpson, his doctors believe that the chemotherapy has stopped the cancer in time. He has an appointment this morning in fact to check the progress of his treatment."
"I hope it's good news."
"So do I." Mr. Raditch said sincerely. "Mr. Simpson is one of our students' favorite teachers it would be a great blow to Degrassi should we lose him. Now I'll leave you to get settled before your first class. If you need any thing don't hesitate to ask."
"Thank you Mr. Raditch."
"Welcome to Degrassi Miss Ryan."
*~*
Fifteen minutes later Emma came bounding down the stairs. She stopped at the landing and put on her best carefree teenager face. "Good morning parental units."
"Morning sweetie." Spike said as she cleared away her and Snake's breakfast dishes from the table.
"Morning Snake." Emma said as she gave him a hug.
"Morning honey. Ready for school?"
"Uh-huh." She said as she sat down and poured herself some orange juice. "What time's your appointment?"
"10:00." Snake said as he glanced at his watch. "You'd better get going Em or you'll be late."
She finished her juice and was almost to the door before she turned back and hugged Snake again. "I hope it's good news."
Spike watched, not being able to hold in the smile, as Snake held on to her for a long time. "It will be sweetheart believe me."
"I do."
Emma left for school leaving Spike and Snake alone. He saw the look on her face and held his arms open. "Come here you big mush." Spike sank into his chest and started to cry only this time they were happy tears.
*~*
Ellie sat on one of the benches outside Degrassi her nose buried in a book completely oblivious to the fact when she crossed her legs the wind had blown her short black skirt up exposing her thighs. Many boys stared at her legs as they passed and made comments but she didn't hear them.
It wasn't until she heard a girl's voice that she finally looked up from her book. Ashley Kerwin had said 'good morning' to her as she walked by with her boyfriend. She smiled at her and watched as she walked into school hand and hand with Craig Manning.
She sighed as they disappeared into the building together. "Why are you torturing yourself like this?" She thought to herself. "Like you would ever have a chance in hell with someone like that." With that thought she picked up her book bag and walked into school.
Across the street a man dressed in a long black coat that seemed completely inappropriate for the warm weather watched as the students were arriving. He would scan the crowd, focus on one or two at a time then go back to scanning the rest.
He was beginning to think the old woman was wrong when he felt the presence of the one he was looking for. He stepped away from the light pole he was leaning against and took off his dark glasses. His eyes darted back and forth over the growing mass of teenagers arriving at school until he found her. He couldn't believe his eyes, it was really her this time.
Near the main entrance of the school Emma Nelson stood chatting with her friends Toby, Liberty and JT when she then got the odd feeling someone was watching her. She glanced around but didn't see anyone and she brushed the feeling away and turned her attention back to her friends.
Across the street the man named Stefan Rogash smiled and whispered to himself. "Nice to see you again Slayer."
More to come…