CHAPTER 2!
Disclaimer: Kala-Warrior18 does not own in any way the Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter series, ownership and creator of such literature–Laurell K. Hamilton.
Property: Kala-Warrior18 has ownership of fiction characters in "Livin' Well" are Michelle Chapters and Nicole Blackwoods and future OC characters.
Enjoy the story.
Chapter 2: Seeing Fang-erelle
There was a crowd. Nicole cursed and Mitch (Michelle) turned to look at her, a lope-sided smile on her face. The kind of smile saying she was sorry but more amused at Nicole's reaction. Through the windows on Mitch's side of the truck, they saw an all too familiar vehicle parked among the throng of civilians.
"Great, a family reunion." Nicole thought dryly.
After parking the car, Nicole and Mitch stepped out onto the scene and immediately being surrounded with reporters all asking the same questions: Does the death of Daniel Betters connect with the body, How do you feel about Animators, Inc and RPIT killing your kind without hesitation, and last, It's been said that Livin' Well, Inc's employees once worked for Animators. Inc, is that true?
Nicole was starting to get pissed-off. Mitch stood closer to her, her body tense and hunched over, probably because she was a bit claustrophobic.
"We have yet to conclude if both murders have any relation. So I ask if everyone would move aside in order for us to analyze the body." Nicole sounded professional but she knew there was some annoyance in it. If she had answered their questions truthfully it would have been, "I don't know, shut the hell up, and mind your own damn business," all in that order. However, Mitch was with her and she was kind of like a therapist or warden for Nicole's anger issues. Nicole was also concerned with getting Mitch some space to breathe. "That's what friends are for," she guessed.
An officer held the tape up for them to pass under. It was like passing an invisible barrier because everyone was staring at them, most of the conversations stopped after seeing them. Disgust, anger, and some shocked looks were given when they walked by. It was obvious no one was going to volunteer to escort them to the body; then again, someone could look for the biggest crowd, BINGO. Nicole was in the lead and Mitch followed.
Four people stood in front of the corpse talking, two "blues" (police/officers), one tall guy in a brown trench coat which in Nicole's opinion was a bad impression of Sherlock Homes, and one woman about 5'3" with wavy black hair that reached her shoulder blades.
"Long time, no see." Nicole said smiling, standing a few paces away from the group.
The group turned their heads towards the women. The man nodded his hello before carrying on his conversation with the blues and the woman gave us a small smile in recognition; she had brown eyes and looked slightly Latina. Anita Blake, "The Executioner" of vampires and animator for Animators, Inc., and a good friend of Nicole and Michelle.
"Hey," Anita said coming over and shook hands with each of them. "Yeah, it's been awhile. Haven't heard from you guys." She accused a bit hurtfully.
Although, Anita wasn't really bothered at all of the lack communication from her two friends…in over a month, not even a phone call to say hi.
Though if it was herself, Anita wouldn't have the time either, and would have the sympathetic consideration not to call them at 6 o'clock in the morning when they would be asleep. Whatever the childish grudge was, it disappeared at Nicole's apologetic lop-sided smile and Michelle's guilty side-glance.
"Well, you know, odd hours in the day and stuff. So," Nicole advert the conversation, looking around Anita at the body, it was female and a vampire by the feel of her aura, "what's the story on Fang-erelle?"
Anita turned back to the body, she didn't laugh or smile; Nicole guess she didn't like her joke. Com'on, Cinderella…Fang-erelle; anyways, whoever this woman was obviously did not make to the ball or back to her coffin. It was pure luck that her body was found in a shaded alley and not a pile of ash on the sidewalk, and then this case would really be dead, no pun intended.
"Elizabeth Bowler," Anita answered, "a master vampire of English decent and over 200 years old—"
"Two-hundred and seventy-five," Mitch quickly injected.
Anita looked back at Mitch, shocked maybe or just annoyed at Mitch's age accusations and interruption, before turning back to the dead woman. "Right, anyway, her body was found 30 minutes ago by Alex Davis, we already questioned him and he's useless; and I suppose she died around 3 or 4 o'clock in the morning."
"Just like Daniel." Nicole said.
"Who?" Dolph asked with having the two blues leave to do official police work. Lieutenant Rudolph "Dolph" Storr, 6'8", cropped black hair, built like a wrestler, and a sergeant and is head of RPIT (Regional Preternatural Investigation Team, pronounced occasionally as "Rip-It").
"Daniel Betters, age 22, 5'7", were-rat, and worked at Guilty Pleasures, died around the same time and in the same condition as Fang-erelle." Bloody and cracked opened like a hard-boiled egg with hardly any contents inside.
"Elizabeth." Mitch corrected in respect as Nick shrugged off her mistake.
"What's Guilty Pleasures?" Dolph asked.
"A women's' strip-club of Weres and vampires."
Dolph's eyebrows scrunched together, they almost looked like a caterpillar, "I see."
Nicole couldn't help but hear the slightest of disgust in his voice. Was it the fact that Daniel was a were-rat or that he use to be a stripper? Why was Nicole even caring what he thought in the first place?
RPIT focused making the supernatural permanently dead, no matter the cause and as long it fit into the legal system. Livin' Well was its rebound, focusing helping the supernatural stay alive...more than what some already were. Different teams with high contradicting opinions but they still worked with "creatures of the night"; and of course much to each team's displeasure, they did have to tag-team on cases and put their differences aside.
Anita cleared her throat, trying to disperse the awkwardness, "So we have two bodies: one's a male were-rat stripper and the other is a female master vampire, and they both died at the same time and condition."
"At least, we know it's the same killer." Dolph said. Way to think it through, Serg.
"It could be one person or a group; possible suspects would be ghouls, HAV, or other creepers." Mitch inputted while counting off the suspects with her fingers. "HAV's occupation would be usual and most times lead to violence. And judging by Daniel's persona, he and Elizabeth must have had a romantic entanglement which must have caused a hostile jealous rage by one of their admirers: human, were, or vampire."
Mitch then had this unease gaze towards the city as if the culprit was in the crowd or knew where they were. "The ghouls I'm not entirely sure, we're too far out from any cemeteries and ghouls don't attack unless the person is wounded or shows weakness. It could be someone just making it look-like a ghoul attack."
As the other two soaked up the information, Nicole released a low impressed whistle.
"Way to go, bud." Nicole thought in amazement. Michelle was smart, very smart. It just came out wrong occasionally, like she should have kept it short-and-simple because most felt pretty dumb afterwards. Nicole didn't mind, she was kind of the same way…more or less.
Dolph and Anita however, were astounded.
"Anything else to add to that?" Dolph asked as if it were possible.
Mitch shrugged her shoulders, "Could be just power-play." she added.
"Like another master trying to boost their rank of sovereignty." Anita finished.
"That's a lot of suspects to interview." Nicole voiced her dismay.
"Anita and I will start at Guilty Pleasures." Dolph said, beginning to walk away.
From the corner of Nicole's eye, she saw Anita's dis-Pleasure of the idea. Get it? "dis-Pleasure," like Guilty Pleasures? Ah, never mind-
Anita told them about her little "experience" the last time she was there, she recommended to never go there. The thing is, Nicole's already been there, twice actually. One more couldn't hurt, right?
"We just so happen to have a warrant for that place, allow us to save you a trip." Nicole offered.
Dolph stopped in his tracks. Nicole couldn't see his facial expression about the idea but knew he was thinking it over. Shortly after, he replied, "Alright but I expect to receive a thoroughly written report within 12 hours." then he walked off to his cop buddies.
Nicole looked at her watch, it was 12:45 a.m. and Mitch had college classes today from 2 to 5 o'clock. Guilty Pleasures didn't open till 7, so they'll just be there at 6:40 for a private interview. Good, this gave her time to call Rafael and at least 3 hours of desperately needed sleep.
Nicole felt a hand on her shoulder, it was Anita. "Hey, thanks for saving me there." She had a smile of gratitude on her face.
Nicole smiled back, "Ah, no problem." She then turned to Mitch, "You ready to go?"
"Ha," she mocked, "Why? You're just going to have me do all the paper work."
"Maybe," Nicole drawled out.
The friends laughed before they began to depart from the crime scene.
After both escaping the multitude of reporters and returning to their separate vehicles, something dawned on Nicole...
"Hey, Anita!" Nicole looked across the street to where Anita stood about to get into her car but turned to Nicole in expectation.
"Say "Hi" to Bert for us." Nicole waved goofily with an even goofier smile on her face. The inside joke between her, Mitch and Anita was really funny.
With a smile full of humor, Anita shook her head in disbelief before entering her car and driving off.
Nicole laughed, entering the driver's seat and started the car.
Mitch smiled at her, "You know Bert's going to flip when he hears that."
Nicole smiled mischievously, "That's the idea. Now, let's get you to those classes." She pretended to sound enthusiastic while hitting onto the paved road.
Mitch closed her eyes and groaned, hitting her head on the headrest of the seat and looking up at the roof of the truck. "I've only had 4 hours of sleep. Can't I just use one of my sick days?" She complained before looking at Nicole with puppy-eyes.
"Nope, you need to earn that Preternatural Bachelor's Degree, missy." Nicole smiled evilly, "Besides, you might learn something new."
"Argh," Mitch bumped her head on the headrest, again.
Hope you liked it, make sure to review. That's how I get paid!
Any questions or ideas, feel free to ask. I don't know about chapter titles, yet, or can't think of any.
See you guys later in Chapter 3 of Livin' Well: Dead Notes!