Destined: The start (Unedited)

Part four

Contrary to popular belief, fey are not the friendliest of woodland creatures. Fey are the creation of chaos and trickery, more often than not being the cause of missing hikers, kidnapped children and surprisingly, the cause for toilet paper shortages, so one can imagine why my one and only statement was, shit.

"We, are in so much trouble." I muttered, mostly to myself as Anon took my hand and started me on our path of endless trickery and suffering.

Unless you travel through a gateway, you'll find yourself blind to the world of magic. The thin veil of magic masking your eyes, deceiving the mind and tricking the senses into a false feeling of security. Most supernatural beings use this advantage to keep their existence secret. Only a select few use this advantage to wreak havoc. Amongst those beings are the fey and vampires, and a specific tribe of shifters who enjoy convincing humans that they're aliens. I spent most of my career keeping them in check.

As we walked through the forest a thin mist transformed into a thick blanket. My only hope was the hand pulling me to what I could only hope was freedom and warm clothes.

While we made our way through the gradually thickening mist, my wish for a fey ward grew stronger. If only I had my bag with me, but no, I had to leave it in Bessy! A fey trap exists out of the luck of a Leprechaun, an Apachy tear, and werewolf blood. This concoction is hung around and iron chain. The heat from the chain alone would ward off the weaker fey, but the Apachy tear acts as a paralysis, making it easier for hunters and enemies to kill them. Luckily for most fey, this charm is rare, almost as rare as water in a desert.

The sun was setting, and the fey were getting more violent, more desperate to get us out of their home. Most sensible people would have already turned around, left in the direction they came from. Unlucky for me, I wasn't the most sensible, and neither was Anon. So, despite being shoved, poked, tugged, pulled and tripped, we opted to keep walking, hand in hand as to not loose each other.

"Have you ever tried to make peace with the fey? I mean, you managed to get the Valkyrie not to kill you." I knew Anon was only making small talk to keep herself from panicking, a tactic she only uses with me. So, I indulged her,

"A few years ago, I had to work a case with a dark fey prince, we grew quite close in that time, three weeks of alone time tends to do that. Well, long story short, the same thing happened to him that happens to all my partners."

"He died?"

"Slow and painful, his wings ripped from his back, bones crushed. The last thing he saw was the blood of the man that tortured him. If there's one being I regret losing, its him."

"Did you love him?" The question was simple enough, and yet the reminder of my shared time with Rilek sent shards of pain through my heart. My throat closed up and tears threatened to spill, "Yes, I loved him. It took only a week for me to fall for him."

I felt Anon's hand slip from mine. I didn't even notice that we left the forest, too caught up in painful reminders of the past. Despite the ache in my chest, I walked to Bessy, took off my sopped coat and dressed in a new one, leaving the shirt and pants for Anon to dress in.

While waiting for Anon to finish dressing, I thought on the information I have on the case thus far, which was basically nothing, and yet none of it added up. Ema was drowned, the unnamed victim stabbed, and nothing was taken from the house. What's more, the stabbing victim was hidden in the most obvious place. All the dots lead to the most inexperienced person.

While in thought, I leaned against Bessy, except Bessy was not there, so I tragically fell into a puddle, soaking my lovely warm clothes in eternal torment. Just my luck, thrice in one day...

Anon came rushing over simply to laugh at my predicament. "Need my help, Lary?"

"If I did not know any better, I'd say you were making fun of me." I grumbled as a response; this only earned me another bout of laughter.

"Were? Don't you mean are?"

I just rolled my eyes and stood up, getting into Bessy and immediately starting the engine so I can get the heater on. We drove the rest of the way in silence, mine from dread and fear, Anon's from excitement.

***

The good news is we made it to my office, the even better news, everyone who saw me cleared a way, clearly noting my less then pleasant expression and still sopping clothes. That is, everyone except Brice, who luckily came with a change of clothes and a warm mug of coffee. Sometimes he's not such an asshole.

"Hey, you two, took you long enough. We have some information on the elven victim." This snapped me out of my bad mood and the three of us made our way from my office, walking into our severely outdated lab, which doubles as a morgue.

"So, he, was one of the generals in the war, who now simply works as a servant." Brice muttered as he handed me a pair of gloves. I looked around the small room, noting that the silver laboratory tables have been swapped out for dissection desks, and the equipment usually used for tests and experiments now used to hold certain fluids. On the tables, the body of Ema and our yet to be named victim lay.

"I found some strange metal fragments in our stab victim here, none of the weapons from the mansion match. Whatever was used to stab this poor guy, definitely isn't man made. If I had to guess I would say elven steel." While Brice explained he gave me a trey of the shards. He was right on the elven steel part. "The wounds were also very random and violent, but not fatal. The victim was still alive when taken to the main bedroom, he then bled out, which is the cause of death if you couldn't guess."

"So, this was a rushed situation?"

"Exactly and judging by the position the body was stuffed in; the killer didn't have enough time to finish the job. It was very sloppy and unplanned, not like Ema."

At that I simply nodded. On closer inspection the stab wounds looked more like violent slashes.

"So, whoever did this either has another victim, or a prisoner?" I already knew the answer, and yet when Brice confirmed my suspicion, I felt a pit in my stomach.

Whoever did this, needs to be found...