Fire, Spellcasting and Shapeshfiting in New Jersey

Tiger Eyes

New Jersey was not a simple place. It was also not somewhere that Pauly got much rest. Especially not in the heat of his most intense investigation yet. There was something hanging in the thick grime of the winter. It wasn't the self loathing from Vinny's cigarette either.

The two faced the street with silence in front of the neon light convenience store. Vinny was ferociously scribbling with his red pen in the college ruled notebook he took everywhere. If Pauly was factual, positive, and in tune with his sixth sense, Vinny was neurotic, doubtful and deadly smart.

Pauly swore that he could feel the pulse of the the flickering neon inside his head. He was having a hard time getting out of his thoughts, which meant he knew how challenging this case was going to get.

There was something striking about the trail he and Vinny had been following. This was not the standard. He was hoping that Vinny felt the same way, that he understood the strange feeling. The lingering affect these attacks had. It was more than the normal fear or mystery. There was a distinct connection.

A breeze shuffled in, covering the pavement with the smallest of snowflakes, they disappeared in a mishap of wind and human desolate. Pauly's trench coat rustled, the garment not protecting him from the overshadowing sense of doom.

These were organized attacks. All with fire. Done and signed by the same group. Vinny had done lots of digging, Pauly had spent the past week snuffing out the dead end leads. Pauly had not been afraid like this before. In his years of police work there was always a barrier. That this was his job. He signed up for this bullshit.

But as Vinny hunched over his notebook, his pen scratching the paper to the bones, he had to wonder. Was this about them? Did someone know something they shouldn't?

Jenni awaited in the squad car. Pauly could not decide if she looked more furious or more heart broken. Watching her felt like watching a caged tiger longing for a moment to strike out and kill again. She did not turn her head to look at her apartment that moments ago had been engulfed in flames.

Vinny rose slowly from his position on the ground, flipping his notebook shut. Him and Pauly shared a knowing glance with each other. One that spoke volumes about the situation.

"Have you seen where these fires been?"

"There our meeting places, yeah I know's. The restaurants and the church we could write off. Public places. But when you add Jens place into the mix? That's oh ho ho"

"This ones really gonna bite us in the ass."

Though it was supposed to be said as statement Vinny said it with a quiver that posed it as a question. It was a question to the unknown they face. The world moved around them. They did not move. The fire fighters worked diligently occasionally reporting or asking questions to the pair of detectives.

Flashing lights, crime scene tape, the flashing of cameras from the forensic photographer, the street that was slowly buzzing to life. Jenni still in the car, eyes unwavering.

"Vinny you ain't gonna like what I've got to say, you ain't gonna a like it. The smoke was saying some nasty stuff about trying to hunt us down and kill us."

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Pauly barged into the police station the next morning full of energy. He knew Vinny was probably already here, when it came to the more pressing cases Vinny came as early as he could. Pauly was getting ready to head down the west y'all of the station to get to the offices when he say Jenni.