The Incandescent | Book 7 | The Fairy arc

Chapter 18 ~ The Case of the Murderous Redhead Vampiress

Mara sat alone at a table in her father's favorite bookstore, the Luminara.

Reddish orange ribbons encircled the red roses in the doorway. Cheerful lights brightened the interior of the bookstore in rain or shine, providing a relaxing atmosphere. Today was a quiet steady rainfall, the perfect weather for reading a book. The warm summer was turning into a cool autumn, the weather becoming colder each day.

Most patrons were accompanied by cozy blankets. Mara had a crimson red blanket around her as she enjoyed her favorite Monshalowan cake, a caramel puff pastry specialty, custom-made with rose petals. There was amaretto rose oolong tea, included with a vanilla bean stick. There was also a midnight blue éclairmelar with a delectable black chocolate custard filling, spun spiral pasta with smoked mulberry sauce, and a spiced black currant drink.

To the right of the plate was Mara's red comect device displaying the reason for such indulgence. An email message from her supervisor Fetrina explained the need to return to work. Mara could hear the apology in the email as she read it a second time.

Hello Mara Decuir,

I dislike pulling you away from valuable time with your family, but we need you to impersonate a vampire on planet Mijoria. Her name is Trésora Martel. She is a criminal and a murderer. Trésora has become Mijoria's most wanted criminal. We have sent three private detectives, but she killed two and left the third one in a coma.

We are unable to capture her. The assignment escalated to a critical situation upon the loss of our detectives. After careful consideration, it is decided that you are the best candidate to handle this critical situation.

Your shapeshifting ability is needed for your next assignment, as well as your natural Iredescent ability to understand foreign alien languages. It will be a solo assignment. Details are enclosed with the email file attachment.

Again, my apologies. Please inform us soon as you can travel to Mijoria. Once you do, please keep us updated with your status. We are dependent on you to arrest the vampiress, the Mijorian term for a female vampire.

May the stars shine bright for you, Mara Decuir.

Mara sighed, taking another bite of her favorite cake. Great, so great. A Vanquesha, a villain, and a vampire. Perhaps the following assignment would encounter a vagabond or Vareshken, or better yet, some kind of fantastic vendetta or vermillion onion, Mara thought, not looking forward to the task of tracking down a murderous vampire.

Though Mara would be well equipped and prepared, a vampire was like a wildcard. Hard to tame, even harder to capture. But Iredescents held an advantage over vampires via superhuman abilities. Iredescents matched vampire speed in almost-instantaneous movement, another advantage that would help Mara in her next assignment.

Mara wasn't sure how to break the news to her father. She knew he would be heavily disappointed to learn she had to leave on an assignment.

Ireyna might give Mara some valuable information, since vampires used to live with fairies in the past.

Drave would be worried, and Erasmo would make sure Mara had plenty of food and snacks.

But Mara felt no fear. It wasn't exactly confidence that she could take on the vampire, but more so, a driven self-motivation that she would take on the vampire. She simply saw it as a task that needed to be done, determined to complete the necessary.

Mara finished her cake before opening the email attachment, looking over the case files.

Pictures of Trésora jumped out on the screen, but Mara was unfazed, studying her appearance and committing it to her memory, so she could shapeshift into the vampire.