Modern Monsters

Andy & Marv: Part Three

Female Main Character x Male Monster

Marv's apartment is surprisingly small, considering how big he is I figured he would have been somewhere else. He lets me in, showing me his friend's room. The poor guy looked like he had the life drained from him. Rever let me see some of the case files, but everything was still vague, even for the police.

"You have no idea where we went the night before?" I ask Marv, knowing he's been asked this question over a dozen times already.

"I really don't. He told me he would message me later, to see if I wanted to join him, but he never messaged me back," Marv sighs, shoulders slouching and posture caving into himself.

He looks exhausted. Granted, he slept on the floor of the office last night, too afraid to come back here. He's gotten himself a change of clothes, but it's not much different than what he had on the day before. A flannel that won't quite button around him and a tight white shirt underneath that shows the contours of his chest and stomach. The way he looked reminded me of a calendar at the salon my aunt went to. Naughty men of downtown or something like that. It was the first time I'd ever seen a penis so...anyways.

I check his nightstand, rummaging through it. As I'm sifting through old batteries and a stash of candy bars I see a small bit of ribbon in the back. I tug it and the bottom of the drawer falls out at my feet along with a few other things.

There's a business card and some papers as well as a burner phone.

"What is that?" Marv walks up behind me as I stoop to pick it up.

"Our first real lead," I tell him. I flash him the business card. "Looks like we have to pay a visit to the Goblin Market."

The card is matte black with gold lettering. It features the logo of a very prominent lawyer who specifically works in the magic underground of the Goblin Market, Lazarus Bean.

Marv scowls taking the card from me as I look through the papers. "Why would he want to go there?" He asks, turning the card over. "There's no reason for it."

"He had his reasons," I murmur. "For one, Lazarus is a fairy, so almost everything he does is underhanded or a trick. Looks like your friend fell for one." I glance up at Marv who is staring at me confused. "It's a Circle contract," I tell him. "In other words, your friend stepped into Lazarus' circle and got himself spirited away." I look back down at the papers. "He was working for Lazarus, or well, paying him off with favors."

"Then did Lazarus do this to all these people?" Marv growls, crumpling up the card in his hand.

"Lazarus is dirty," I say, touching his hand to make him release the business card. "But he isn't a murderer. I've dealt with him more times than I care to. And even if I wouldn't trust him with my life, he wouldn't be the one to take it, and not in such a gruesome fashion. He's more...stylish than that."

I then sigh. "Besides, I doubt he'd leave a mass grave like I found."

"You keep mentioning this mass grave," Marv snarls. "It sounds more like a sacrifice."

I look up at him. "What do you mean?"

"Where I grew up, there were a lot of pagan religions and practices. One of them had been thrown out from my hometown because they practiced ritual sacrifices of their members. After they were thrown out, they performed a mass ritual."

I furrow my brow. "How many did they sacrifice?" I turn towards him, taking my amulet between my fingers.

"Everyone," he replies. "They were attempting to put a curse on everyone in the bayou. They did it in a spot in the swamp, everyone was too afraid to go near it, so they were left there until the swamp took them."