CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Summary: Hermione Granger, an accomplished witch is working a particularly trying case and is in need of help. Deputy Sheriff Jordan Parrish is a hellhound and just the one she needs. When a fiery witch and a fire-proof supernatural being work together, sparks are sure to fly and Hermione and the Deputy find that they need each other for more than one reason. Rated M for a reason.
Disclaimer: I do not own canon events and characters, they belong to J.K Rowling and the creators of Teen Wolf and MTV. This is purely for entertainment purposes and I am not making a profit from the posting of this. This is set after The Wild Hunt but disregards everything afterwards, so there was no war between the supernatural and humans, there is no Monroe or Gerard and there are no hunters. At least for now! Also, Parrish is 23 and Hermione is 24. Oh, and I'm fudging the time line a bit, too. This will be written mostly in Parrish's POV.
Page count: 6
"I don't understand, there's nothing, absolutely nothing," Parrish frowned, before sighing and leaning back against a tree.
Four days had passed and they'd visited almost every site a killing had taken place, and he'd been unable to detect anything. It was almost as if no killings had occurred at all, but they knew different. In the last four days he'd magically travelled throughout Europe with Hermione and it had taken him two days to get used to port keying, which he swore was invented by the devil himself giving how horrendous it was.
There were twenty-five kill sites in total spread out through Europe and two of them had been in England, one in Surrey and another in Yorkshire. Given they were the closer kill sites, they'd visited them first as Hermione was able to apparate due to their shorter distance from London. They then port keyed to Glasgow as that was where the first killings had been reported. From then on, they went to Paris and searched the two towns where killings had occurred and then moved to Italy, where there had been three separate incidences, and there'd been two in Rome, too. The next day they went to Poland which they followed with Austria and Denmark, and still they'd found nothing. Before returning to England for the night, they'd checked out Switzerland and nothing had come of that either.
On the third day they tried Ukraine, Belarus and Bulgaria and they'd spent longer than they usually would in Bulgaria. Due to the hotter temperature they'd been forced to break every once in a while and take shade from the sun, but despite that, nothing had been useful. They'd visited countless countries and travelled across Europe, he only wished it was under better circumstances and that he had some time to explore the countries as a regular tourist, but he had a job to do.
The fourth day brought them to now, they'd visited Dublin, Wales and the towns the killings had taken place at and despite it still being a fairly new crime scene, he hadn't been able to pick anything up. It was nearing evening and soon it would begin to get dark, but there was only one site left to visit before they'd finished and they both agreed there was no point in leaving it until the next day, with the luck they'd been having they'd likely find nothing of use.
Over the last few days six more victims had been found in Cork, Ireland at Gougane Barra Forest, which was a known area for hikers, fishermen and campers, and with the weather warming up for Summer, there was plenty of people in danger.
The victims had been discovered a day after being killed and they'd immediately shut access to the forest down, ensuring no one else got in and that others had gotten out safely. With the last killing being only a few days ago, it was the freshest killing site they had.
They'd spent the last two hours hiking through the forest trying to find the kill site as the co-ordinates Hermione had been given to put into the port key had been inaccurate. It was nearly dark, she was hungry and tired and it was getting really cold. Despite her above average body temperature and the fire within her, even she felt the cold and she was bloody freezing!
Her face was cold, she couldn't feel her nose or her toes and her hands were going numb so she stuffed them into the pockets of the winter coat she'd transfigured from her jacket, she'd offered to do the same for Parrish but he'd declined, saying he didn't feel the cold. Well she bloody well did and she wasn't sure how much longer she could take it!
"I wasn't expecting anything else," she responded, ducking her head down so her ears were protected from the cold by the collar of her coat.
He turned his head towards her and a chuckle fell from him at the sight she made; all but curled in on herself, wearing a thick winter coat with fur on the collars and wrists and her hands buried in her pockets as she shivered.
"Cold?" He questioned.
"No, I'm sweltering hot, I'm just entertaining the idea of stripping and going for a quick swim in the lake, would you care to join me?" She snarked and he chuckled. "Of course I'm cold, it's bloody freezing! I can't feel my nose, I think my toes are going to fall off and my hands will soon follow," she whined.
He shook his head in amusement and made his way over to her, the only protection he had from the cold being his leather jacket and she glared at him for that.
"It's not my fault," he held his hands up in surrender.
She glared at him all the more for his comment. He stopped in front of her and held his hands out to her, she reluctantly removed her hands from the little warmth her pockets offered her and placed her hands in his. He rubbed his hands over hers and she sighed at the sudden heat that surrounded her.
"You're grouchy when you're cold," he said amused.
"And you're pushing your luck," she warned, and he snorted at her.
He lifted a hand and pressed the back of it against Hermione's cheek, a frown appearing on his face.
"Hell, you really are freezing," he muttered, his amusement gone immediately and replaced with worry.
Hermione squeaked in surprise when he tugged her forward by her hand and into him, he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her flush against him, his arms sliding around her back and resting his chin on top of her head. She didn't voice her annoyance at being manhandled as the warmth of his body suddenly surrounded her and seemed to pass through the layers of clothing she wore and straight to her skin.
"Better?"
"Much better," she nodded, lifting her arms to wrap around his waist underneath his jacket, her cold hands pressing against the fabric of his t-shirt.
"I don't understand why you feel the cold, you're like me," he said.
"There's not exactly a book that I can read or a person that I can ask about these things, everything I know was learned through observations and trial and error. I don't know why I feel the cold, I just do. I don't function well. In fact I seem to be more sensitive to the cold than a regular human. It may not actually be that cold seeing as we're now entering summer, but to me it's so cold I may as well be in the Antarctic."
He rubbed his hands over her back and she felt the heat of his hands melt through her clothing until it warmed her back and she sighed.
"You're bloody useful, like a hot water bottle. I may have to keep you around for when winter hits."
He laughed at her and smiled at the way she snuggled closer to him, her nose nuzzling at his chest before she turned her head and pressed her check to where his heart sat.
"So, I've been thinking," she spoke.
"About?"
"The killing sites, I think there's a reason we haven't been able to find any evidence and there's a reason you're not picking up a trace. I think that whatever this creature is, someone's cleaning up after it."
"That could be possible; The Beast had the Dread Doctors who did exactly that."
She nodded. "Well, it certainly explains our lack of leads on the case, but any magic that is cast always leaves a trace behind, my wand would be able to detect it and since it hasn't at any of the previous sites we've checked, it means the trace had long since faded. With this being the last known sight for the killings, the residual magic may still be traceable, if only we could actually find the killing site."
"Well, it's getting late. Do you want to continue or head on back and return tomorrow?"
"Let's just keep going, we might as well. If we don't find anything tonight we're back to square one," she sighed and unwillingly stepped away from him and his heat, immediately missing it. "Come on then, whilst I still have my toes for balance."
He laughed at her but fell into step beside her as they traipsed through the thick forest, having ditched the usual hiking trails as they knew the bodies had been found away from them.
Parrish had just helped Hermione to climb over a large fallen tree when his head suddenly snapped up and his eyes darted about, searching his surroundings carefully. Hermione noticed that his eyes flashed amber and she felt both hope and dread fill her.
"What is it?" She asked him with a frown.
"I'm not sure, something feels different," he muttered.
His eyes briefly fell down to hers and without thought Hermione pulled her wand from her pocket and gripped it in her hand tightly. They shared a nod and with his hand still wrapped around hers, he followed his instincts and led the way. Barely ten minutes later they stumbled onto a small clearing, and Hermione gasped at the sight that met them.
Two bodies laid on the ground, the man on his back and the woman on her stomach. As they neared closer, they could both see the slash marks covering the entirety of their bodies, as well as the woman missing her left arm and the man missing both his legs. Blood covered the ground, the bodies and was splattered against nearby trees.
Hermione stared in horror as Parrish released her hand and approached the bodies, kneeling down to check for a pulse.
"They're dead," he confirmed and Hermione screwed her eyes shut tightly.
It wasn't the first body she'd seen and it certainly wasn't the most gruesome, but it was the first body she had found herself for the case. In fact, she'd never seen the bodies but in photos.
"Hermione?" She opened her eyes at the sound of his voice, noticing that it was quiet and calm, too calm. "They're still warm."
She took a deep breath and forced herself to remain calm, before she slowly approached and knelt down beside Parrish, raising her wand and muttering under her breath.
"They've been dead less than half an hour," she whispered, both their eyes widening at the meaning.
Prodigium could very well still be in the area.
"I think I should hellhound up."
"I agree," she nodded furiously.
They both stood and moved away from the bodies and he removed his leather jacket, which she took and shrunk it down so it would fit in her pocket.
"You think you can help me?"
She nodded before raising her wand and training it on his chest. "Ready?" He nodded. "Incendio," she muttered.
A ball of fire shot from the tip of her wand and collided with his chest. She closed her eyes against the bright light of the flames and only opened them when she felt warm hands cup her face.
The glowing orbs of the hellhound catching her gaze, and with the flames surrounding him and keeping the cold away from her, she'd forgotten how beautiful he was.
"It is nearby," he muttered. "I'm not sure where, but I can feel it. Whatever happens, stay behind me and don't get involved."
"But what if you get hurt," she replied, worry and fear slipping into her voice.
"I'll heal."
"Not if you're dead."
"It won't come to that, I promise."
She opened her mouth to respond only to be cut off with a gentle kiss, his hot lips warming her own and his thumbs brushing her cheek bones lightly.
"Please be careful, I don't like the thought of you getting hurt and should you, they'll be a rampaging witch loose in these forests."
He smiled at her. "My little warrior Goddess, always ready to run into battle and fight for those that can't do it themselves," he muttered fondly.
He stepped away from her completely and she watched as his nails grew into claws and his sharp teeth and fangs appeared. With a final look at her, he turned and darted off into the trees to the left of them, leaving behind a few spitting flames as they fell to the ground.
Hermione listened for sounds of any kind but heard none, not even wildlife which had likely been scarred off. She turned back to the bodies and scanned them for any residual magic but found no traces except for her own, meaning whoever was covering for the creature hadn't come by yet.
As she made to stand, she caught sight of a large bite mark on the man's shoulder and on closer inspection she noticed a gooey liquid leaking from it. Her eyes widening in realisation, she conjured up a small potions vial and scooped some of the substance into the vial, making sure to have enough for several tests.
It was venom, and with it, they'd not only be able to get a potential DNA sample they would be able to compare against their database, but they'd be able to tell which being or creature the venom belonged to, filling in the gaps about Prodigium's other half. They'd never found venom before, but there had been plenty enough bite marks, which meant it had always been cleaned away before it could be discovered.
Hermione checked the woman and found a bite mark with leaking venom on her leg and she quickly conjured another vial and took a sample from that, too. She slipped both vials into her pocket for safety and she stood and moved away from the bodies.
She wished she had something to cover them with until she had the chance to send word that they'd been discovered, but all she had were splinters of wood, trees and grass; there was nothing she could do.
She stuffed her hands in her pockets, feeling the cold beginning to settle in once more and she started to pace, worry for her hellhound and deputy filling her.
A sudden roar had her rooted to the spot as fear shot through her and making her unable to move. She could hear the sounds of twigs and leaves' breaking under a heavy weight and it was getting louder, meaning it was growing closer.
Hermione slowly twisted her body around and just in time as the creature they'd been searching for jumped free of the trees and landed with a skid in the clearing, a few feet away from her.