Night Touched

Aftermath

Asher

    I woke a few hours later, my body curled around hers with my arm around her waist. Her silver hair was a wild tangle upon the pillow and my eyes drank in the curve of her hip and the succulent gentle curve of her breasts rising and falling as she breathed. I sighed, not wanting to tear myself from her embrace. This magnetic force pulling me to her side was intense and unlike anything I had experienced before. I leaned close and kissed Lyra on the shoulder softly before slipping out of the bed carefully.

    I knew that I needed to check in with Sergei about the clean up at the cottage. Why would someone want both Lyra's Mother and an instructor from the culinary school dead? I cleaned myself up in the bathroom and then wrote a note to Lyra to leave on the bedside table, in case she woke before I returned. I was determined to get someone answers before I asked her if she would come ack to Aurora with me. Perhaps I could pull some strings, and get her friend to come to Aurora for the internship early, to help Lyra feel more comfortable.
   
    I got dressed and texted Sergei, "Meet me for lunch, downstairs in the hotel restaurant."
   
    "Yes, Sir. Meet you in 15. " He replied quickly.

   I took the elevator downstairs and made my way to the restaurant getting a small round table by the window. I was browsing the menu when Sergei arrived joining me. Sergei was a dark featured man, with a serious jaw line. Imposing at 6'3'' with wide shoulders like a linebacker. It was no wonder that he had risen so high within our pack; to become enforcer for my Father.
   
    "Good Afternoon, Sergei. How did it go with your informant at Nebula? Also, I apologize for the late night. I trust the clean up went well?" I asked him pointedly.

    "Well enough, Asher. The professor was found by two human students; which always makes things extra easy for us to clean up. My informant was another hedge witch, apparently the culinary professor was found displayed against the wall of the test kitchen with cutlery. This killer took their time; wanting to be noticed in a ritualistic manner. Similarly, the scene from this morning paralleled the first that way as well as the bloody sigils from both scenes." He paused as the waiter came over.

    "What can I got for you gentlemen today?" He asked brightly.

    "I'll have the special please, with a water." I replied.

    "The same." Sergei said gruffly.

    As soon as the waiter scurried away, Sergei continued, "Well, so this sigil, according to Finn is the sigil of the deity of Chaos. Supposedly, these rituals are some sort of summoning. Both victims were missing vital organs. First, a liver and with the witch, her spleen." He reported matter of factly.

    The waiter brought us our drinks and stepped away without a word.

I took a steady sip; pondering what I had just heard, "A summoning? What exactly does that mean?"

    Sergei continued, "Well, now that we know this wasn't an isolated incident, I suppose that's a question for Institute Magus personnel. That's not really my area of expertise as you know."

    He was right, we needed to know more and keep this quiet. Whomever committed these crimes was trying to summon something, but what exactly and for what purpose?

    "Any idea about the significance as to the organ removal, Sergei?" I asked.

    "That could really go either way, some killers like to take trophies from their victims; but it could also be part of the ritual itself... Yet another question for the Magister, I think." He said.

    Right, I needed to speak to Magister Norwood anyways about why the second victim would have his name on a piece of paper in her hand. So perhaps, I could get the answers to a few things from talking to him personally.