|| Secret Lies ||

Chapter Two

A familiar door loomed before her as she fiddled with the lock, exhausted from work and the smell of coffee wreathing around her.

"Dad, I'm home!" Katie called, shutting the heavy door behind her. She tossed her keys into the basket on the shelf as she stumbled out of her boots, pulling off her jacket.

"Hey, kid!" her dad answered from the kitchen. She turned the corner, smiling at the pot bubbling on the stove, stomach growling. What? She was hungry, okay! She wasn't taking it out of her paycheck to eat the frankly bad pastries that they sold. Her dad already had an empty bowl out, set with a spoon by the pot and she eagerly ladled herself a bowl.

He sat at the table, his glasses on, head ducked over files he probably brought home from work and smiled balefully as she sat down. His brown eyes crinkled with his smile, the ones her mom had always said matched Katie's own, like they were twins. Her horns were small and stubby, while his stretched out, though. Bound to happen, she supposed, considering he was a bull and she was not.

"Need any help?"

"Ah, no, just... these guys keep slipping through the cracks," he looked up at her, patting her arm reassuringly, "No need to worry. We'll catch them."

"I'm sure you will." She beamed, grabbing a spoonful of the soup. Humming appreciatively and enjoying more soup, she subtly slid a file towards herself. She barely scanned the legalese on the paper, peering at the picture instead so she could maybe watch out for them.

A grainy image of a blonde with their hair up in a bun took up the majority of the image, great gray feathers forming a ruff where their ears should have been. Their eyes were watery brown, light and creased with anger and age, lower half of their face covered completely by a white mask, adorned with bared teeth.

"Are they... like, an organized crime thing?" she asked as she shuffled through the attached photos, noting the mask in every one. They wore a clean black suit, and had huge gray wings that she eyed with jealousy, running a hand across the pixels.

He looked up, pausing and frowning slightly at her before giving in. "Yes. That's the advisor you're looking at right now. " Dad tapped the file, sliding the one he was currently scanning to her and pointing, "You probably have no idea about him. He's old, my age. But here- this is the underboss. Younger than you, we think. Probably runs in similar circles to you."

"I don't think I do the same things mobsters do in my free time."

Dad shrugged. "Worth a shot. We have next to nothing."

She took the time to laugh before peering at the picture. He felt very familiar, for some reason, and a frown tugged at her lips. The same mask covered the lower half of his face, too pixelated to make out details other than a general handsome air and haunting purple eyes.

"Is that... a scar?" She tapped the photo, and Dad nodded, tracing his neck and down across his eye. "Neck and eye."

Katie shivered.

"Brutal," she murmured, flipping through the rest. The same suit, but he had curly white hair tied into a loose ponytail and black horns, clearly much taller than everyone around him. "Huh. How about the other one?"

Dad slid the file back, passing over another one, lighter than the underboss'.

Same suit, same mask- this time with startlingly cold green eyes and light brown hair, almost blond. His face was hard to make sense of and he felt just as familiar as the underboss did. She flipped to another photo, and frowned deeply, tracing a hand over his shape. Held confidently, broad shoulders, never without a cigarette. He certainly was in control in every image and a chill ran down her spine.

"This is the boss?"

It was more a statement than a question—it was obviously true, and her dad nodded to confirm, taking back the files. Deja vu chased her as she spooned soup into her mouth with an unsettled hum.

"Oh, honey, I forgot to ask. How was work?"

"Hmm? Oh, um, pretty good. Boring. Uneventful is a better word, sorry." She tapped her spoon against the bowl, drinking the rest of the soup. "Wait! Lucy broke one of the machines. Super annoying, because she insisted on fixing it all by herself, and then riiight after, some weird guys came in." Her dad cocked his head, eating some of his own soup and pushing the files aside.

"Weird... how?"

"Oh no, no, not like, criminals, weird. One guy was just really nice to me. It was a pretty nice change of pace."

A smile split his face and he nodded, tapping her on the arm.

"Well, that's great. Any luck from any of your applications?"

Katie deflated, and she sighed, "No, not yet. I don't think anyone wants a journalist who works at a coffee shop right now."

He made a sympathetic sound, flipping open the underboss' file and patting her on the arm.

"Well, if you're interested in reporting on crime and stuff, maybe edit your resume, because we need hundreds to accurately tell citizens the story of whatever is happening here."

"Huh. I never thought of it like that! That's so true, Dad, thanks," she beamed at him, and he smiled right back, sliding his glasses down to perch on the tip of his nose.

"Hey, and you might just be overqualified, bud. Four years at Some University ™ is pretty overkill," Dad reminded her, and a childish grunt escaped Katie.

"You would think I would be hired now because of that, right?" she felt slightly like a whiny child and frowned, scraping at the remnants in her bowl.

Dad just hummed softly, "Give 'er time, honey. Give her time."

She nodded slowly, standing with her bowl and sliding it into the sink.

"Hey, I'm tired. I might go to bed a little early."

"Right, right. Hey, don't let the bedbugs bite."

Rolling her eyes, she headed up the stairs with a grin, "Sure, dad." Maybe it was odd she was 27 and living with her dad, but he was a police captain who worked weird hours. She couldn't exactly guarantee he was taking care of himself.

Especially after Mom passed.

Katie was glad she was there so he could have someone to depend on. It was good, their little family.

That was what they needed, both of them. Someone to lean on, someone to protect.

Safety.

...

AN: woah! another part. this is wild. again, thanks for reading, and please let me know whats up in the comments, how you feel about the book or like. just tell me about your day

sorry for the slow pace, i promise it will pick up! 

 (: