Approaching Storm (Normalcy Book 1)

by A. L. Kessler

  I cringed at her words. "Okay, yeah, let's head on in. You can take a look at the pictures and see if anyone else looks familiar."

  She followed us in, and I took a moment to make sure no one else was in the house. I walked further in and went to the kettle. "Would you like some tea?"

  "Please, I could use some to settle my nerves." She followed Zephyr into the living room while I made the tea.

  After a few moments, I joined them and handed her a cup. I sat down next to her on the couch and pulled my phone out. "Thank you for coming into town."

  "Of course. I don't have a lot against you guys, mostly I just like that I can get away with more in the outskirts." She smiled and sipped her tea. "And if we can prove that Maverick killed my sister, I'll be happy."

  After finding the start of the photos from Maverick's house, I handed her my phone. "Swipe right and you can see the other pictures."

  She flipped through the photos in silence, going back and forth between a few of them. "I can tell you that all of them are from the outskirts."

  Which was good, because I'd left the citizens of the town out of the pictures. "What else can you tell me?"

  "Well, if the people who are scratched out are the ones I think they are, they're dead." She handed me back my phone. "Get me a pen and paper, and I'll write down their names as well as what they are."

  Zephyr stood up and went to get her the items. I put my phone down on the table. "Thank you for your help."

  "What are you going to do with the information? It's obvious that he's the one responsible for the murders."

  There was still a little doubt in my mind. "I'm going to try to figure out who killed him. Even if it's for his crimes, I need something to clear Zephyr's name when the deputy gets back here."

  "Are you sure the deputy isn't in on it?"

  "He's a vampire; I don't think he meant to hire a hunter for the Sheriff."

  "And what happened to the sheriff before Maverick?"

  I glanced away. "He was killed in the line of duty. That's all I know."

  "Don't you think you might want to look into that one too?"

  Probably, but I had been so focused on Maverick, I didn't think to look into the other sheriff's death. "I will. Thank you."

  I wasn't a detective, I wasn't even a PI, I was just a human…no, no I wasn't. I was a supernatural creature hunting for answers. An amateur at best.

  Allie wrote the names down for me and the type of supernatural creatures they were and then stood. "I need to get going. I hope you two have a good evening."

  She let herself out of the house, and Zephyr locked the door behind her. He came back into the living room to sit with me.

  "It's been a hell of a day."

  I nodded and leaned my head against his. "It has been, but now we know a few things. I can't leave the city, your brother has it out for you, and Maverick was seriously after a lot of people. Allie gave us a great list."

  Zephyr kissed me gently. "I think Callister is working with someone."

  "Do you think it's Ananke?" I folded my hands in my lap and stared at them.

  "I have no idea. If he is, then there's more going on than just a vendetta against me. I think whatever he wants with me is just icing on the cake." He sighed and leaned back. "Maybe we can get Davina to change her wards so he can't come in."

  "Maybe, and maybe she knows why I can't leave. She put the wards on the city; maybe she had something to do with the barrier as well."

  He nodded. "Yeah, let's go chat with her tomorrow."

  "Tonight I'm going to do a little bit of research then." I reached for my computer. "See if I can't figure out what happened to the sheriff before Maverick."

  "Let's hope it doesn't turn into another murder investigation."

  I nodded. "Maybe he passed away peacefully." I typed in the name of the sheriff and the first headline to pop up was:

  "Sheriff of small town brutally murdered, no suspects in custody."

  Well, there went that idea.

  Chapter Ten

  Zephyr looked over my shoulder. "Well, great."

  I scrolled through the article. "Looks like his wife and he lived on the outskirts."

  "Lover scorned? Maybe Bob's wife came back for Maverick?"

  "There's no proof that Maverick had anything to do with the death." I tapped the screen. "This happened before Maverick was here, remember he moved here when he was hired."

  "He could have visited though."

  That was true, I don't know how long the wards were up, and it was possible that Maverick could get past the wards because he was human.

  "That's a huge setup, to come to a tiny paranormal town and decide to start killing off the occupants? I mean there are bigger towns with more creatures than this."

  Zephyr shrugged. "Just throwing some ideas out there."

  "I know, it's a bit of a stretch though." I scrolled through the rest of the article and then copied and pasted the old sheriff's address into an online map.

  It popped up showing it not far from Taylor's house. "Do we know how these people were killed?"

  "I should have asked Allie, but no we don't. I'm assuming decapitation since she mentioned all the heads were missing." I scrolled through the photos on my phone. "We can see if any of them have living relatives or obituaries, but I don't think the obituaries will tell us the cause of death."

  "Not typically in murder cases." He picked up the piece of paper and looked over the names. "This seems like a very specific target list though. Most of the ones he marked as unknowns are creatures like shifters, witches, day-walkers like you and me."

  "Then he has a few vampires sprinkled in there." I licked my lips. "I think we need to go back to the Cave of Wonders."

  "I think you're right. Let's talk to Lex and see who and what he knows about these people. He basically runs the outskirts."

  A knock came at the door, an angry rhythm that made me jump. Zephyr put his hand on my knee. "I've got it."

  I stood up and followed him into the kitchen. I stayed in the doorway where I could see who was at the door.

  Zephyr opened the door, and there stood Hamish in full uniform.

  "Zephyr Kateyitha, you're under arrest for the murder of Maverick Jones."

  Zephyr looked back at me, and I panicked. This wasn't going to end well. "Officer Hamish, Zephyr had nothing to do with it."

  "Stay out of this May. Zephyr is the only person who had a motive for killing him."

  "How do you even know what happened? How long have you been back?" I tried to keep my voice from shaking.

  Meanwhile, Zephyr complied and turned around to let Hamish cuff him.

  "I came back last night after I got an anonymous tip about Maverick's death." He pegged me with a stare. "Said you were trying to cover it up and plant evidence against others." He jerked Zephyr. "Why would you cover for a stranger May, that's not like you."

  I had a feeling I knew who called in the tip. "Because Zephyr didn't kill Maverick. I'm not sure who did yet, but Maverick was a hunter. Did you know that?"

  He paused for a moment and then started laughing hard enough that I could see the pointed tip of his fangs. "Maverick a hunter? May that's the craziest thing you've ever said."

  He started pushing Zephyr out of the house. "I'll be questioning Mr. Kateyitha, and we'll see if he gets released or not."

  I opened my mouth to argue, but Zephyr shook his head. "It'll be okay, go make sure you're with Lee or Teal until I can clear all this up."

  I nodded. "Okay, I'll keep working on what I know."

  Hamish pointed a finger at me. "I'll be back to talk to you about your snooping around."

  "I'll be at the soda shop."

  He walked out with Zephyr. I watched at the door as Hamish shoved Zephyr into the back of the only patrol car this town had.

  Anger flooded through me as I we
nt to grab my bag and my blade. Callister was behind this; I had no doubt about that. Part of me wanted to find him and confront him, but that would be a stupid move. No, I needed to figure out Maverick's death and prove Zephyr innocent before Callister got a chance to attack me again.

  I walked into the soda shop to find Teal leaning over the counter whispering to Lee. Lee had a smile that faded the moment she laid eyes on me.

  "Glad to see you're up and walking around." She turned to get a foam cup. "Where's Zephyr?"

  "Our good ol' deputy had him arrested for Maverick's murder." I sat on the stool, laying my blade on the counter. "Said he received a tip last night about Maverick's death."

  Teal and Lee exchanged looks. Teal sat down next to me. "It wasn't me. Maybe it was Davina?"

  I didn't know if the witch would have that much against Zephyr or not. Maybe she was working with Callister. No. If she didn't like Zephyr, then she really wouldn't like Callister.

  Lee put the soda in front of me. "So which one of us gets to babysit you?"

  I rolled my eyes. "It's not babysitting. The theory is Callister won't try anything when someone else is with me."

  "Right, he attacked you in your own home, drugged you, and you don't think he'll try anything with us around?" Teal crossed her arms. "I think the man is cocky enough that he thinks he can take us out."

  I shrugged. "I need to clear Zephyr's name."

  The door chimed as it opened and Officer Hamish came in. "And how do you expect to do that?"

  I clenched my jaw, and Lee moved my blade behind the counter. "Maverick has some images in his house, of people from the outskirts. He also has images of me up on the wall."

  "So he was a freak."

  I shook my head. "He was a hunter. He had weapons in his closet."

  "No, the closet was empty when I went there." He sat down next to me. "Now look. May, you've never caused problems here before, so I don't know why you are now."

  "What do you mean I'm causing problems?" I tried to keep my voice calm. "Maverick was dropped on my porch with a stake in his back. I'm pretty sure that's someone else causing problems."

  He hmmed for a moment. "My contact says that Zephyr was the only person who would kill Maverick. Maverick's freakiness didn't come out until you started sneaking around. Which I can bring you in for breaking and entering, unless you want to tell me why Zephyr would kill Maverick."

  "Didn't your contact tell you why?" I tried to keep the sarcasm out of my voice. I wasn't in the mood for someone to force me into giving information. "Look, Zephyr couldn't have killed Maverick; he was out of town at that point."

  "And why do you say that?"

  "Because he told me he was going to go talk to an old friend."

  That wasn't really true, he disappeared when he realized that I had no wings, but I wasn't explaining that right now.

  "So you trust his word?"

  "He's saved my life, yes I trust his word." I met his gaze. "Look, I know he looks suspicious, but what also looks suspicious is the fact that Maverick was a hunter, basically had a hit list on his wall, and the ones crossed out are dead."

  "There's only your word that Maverick was a hunter. I found no weapons." He snarled at me. I pulled out my phone and showed him the pictures. "Then someone is trying to erase the evidence." He studied the pictures, and something crossed his face. "You don't know enough about these things to plant that kind of weaponry."

  I thought about arguing, but I let it go. Lee on the other hand about choked on her soda. Hamish looked at her. "Something funny?"

  "Nope, not at all. I agree, the only thing she can use properly and knows about are guns. As a human in this town, that's very important." She sipped her soda and glanced at me.

  "Zephyr says he's human, does he know about this stuff?" He motioned to the photo.

  "Zephyr's like me." It was all I could say without lying. Zephyr had said we were similar.

  He nodded a few times. "I'll look into other possibilities, but unless someone else knew about this so-called hit list, I don't see any motivation."

  I tried not to roll my eyes.

  "I don't want you sneaking around anymore. Understood?"

  He deleted the pictures on my phone. "No need for you to have these anymore."

  I tried to keep my jaw from dropping to the floor. Luckily I knew my phone backed up to the cloud, but I hadn't expect him to delete them. I also thanked my lucky stars that he didn't seem to know that they could be saved elsewhere as well. "Don't you at least want the pictures sent to your phone?"

  He shook his head. "Promise me you'll stay out of trouble, May? I'd hate to bring you in as an accomplice." He stood and walked out of the soda shop.

  Teal raised a brow. "He has something to do with all of this."

  "My thoughts exactly," I responded.

  Lee started laughing again. "You don't know anything about this kind of weaponry." She laughed hard enough that she snorted. "Oh my god, how wrong is he?"

  "I need you guys to cover for me because I need to talk to a few people about this." I looked at the two of them. "Have my back?"

  Teal grinned. "Girl, when don't we have your back? We're going to take shifts on being by your side until Zephyr is released. We can provide airtight alibis for you."

  Lee nodded. "And if we can't be there, I'll make sure wolves have eyes on you at all time. He's not pegging you as part of this murder."

  Their words warmed my heart. I lifted my soda. "Then let's get started."

  Teal parked her car on in front of The Cave of Wonders. "You sure about this?"

  I nodded. "You can wait in the car if you want."

  "Like hell, no one would forgive me if you went in there alone and something happened."

  I smirked. "It's a magic-laced hookah bar, what's the worst that could happen."

  She gave me a droll look, and I held my hands up. "Okay, okay. You can come in, we talk to Lex, we leave."

  "Hopefully the information he gives us is worth the trip out here." We got out of the car and looked up at the building. Nerves ate my stomach, making me queasy.

  "Come on." She nudged me. "Let's go in."

  We walked in, and Lex was standing there leaning against the wall. "I thought you two were just going to stand out there chit-chatting all night. Back to the office you two. Now."

  It was much more forceful than his previous demeanor, and I looked at Teal with wide eyes. She motioned for me to follow the vampire.

  "What are you doing back here and without your little guide?" Lex demanded the moment the office door shut behind us.

  "My little guide was arrested on false charges for murder." I shot back. "That's what brings me back here. I need to ask you some questions."

  He sat at his desk and put his feet up on it. "Okay, ask away."

  I the photos up from the cloud, scrolling to the ones with the faces scratched out. "We were able to identify them, and I have a list of names. But we don't know if they died from decapitation or something else."

  He took the phone from my hand and started to scroll through them. "They were all murdered by weapons a hunter would use and then their heads were taken. But we have no hunters in Normalcy nor in the outskirts. Local law enforcement pushed all of the deaths off as local violence."

  "We had a hunter, but the deputy doesn't believe us. The Sheriff had a bunch of weapons in his closet. He was killed with a stake." I pressed my lips together.

  "What does your little Demigod have to say about this?" Lex handed me my phone back.

  "He doesn't know what happened either." I shoved my phone back into my pocket.

  "I still can't believe you didn't tell me he was a demigod," Teal grumbled. "That's not a creature we normally get in Normalcy."

  I nodded. "Yeah, I know, his brother is also a demigod." I rubbed my eyes.

  "Gods don't normally deal with us
lowly creatures. There really must be something special about you." Teal narrowed her eyes at me. "But what is it?"

  I shook my head. "Not the question to be asking here. The correct questions should be, why is Hamish so against Maverick being a hunter and why he is holding Zephyr for it?"

  "Chances are he knows Zephyr is a demigod too, so I doubt he's planning on actually charging him. Too many politics with higher beings involved." Lex handed me my phone back. "Look, we have a…creature here who takes care of stuff like this. Outskirt justice if you would. You might want to talk to him and see what he has to say about it. Maybe he's the one who did it, or maybe he can provide you with more evidence."

  Teal raised a brow. "And what's to keep him from lying to us?"

  "He won't lie to you; he's proud of what he does. You can't catch him, you can't charge him, he doesn't exist in any books, records, or anything else. He is what we tell the children of the outskirts about to get them to behave." Lex folded his hands on the desk.

  I looked at Teal who shrugged. "And where do I find this outskirts boogie man?"

  "He lives just around the bend of the highway, in a cave." Lex met my gaze. "In the swamps."

  I blew out a huff of air. "I physically cannot leave the city."

  "Literally?" Lex asked.

  I nodded. "Yes, don't ask."

  He chuckled. "I will arrange a meeting with him then. Do not stab him or shoot him." He eyed my blade. "An interesting weapon, a Kopis, may I see it?"

  I nodded and pulled it off my hip, handing it to him. He unsheathed it, and the light caught the carving in the blade. He smiled, put it back, and handed to me. "I've seen one like that before. Long ago. Trust your demigod." He winked at me and then stood up. "Now, you two head back to town, I'll go talk to Nokken."

  Teal ushered me out of the hookah bar and back to the car. We got in, and she turned to stare at me. "Who told you that you couldn't leave?"

  "I tried to leave, I tried to go to Salt Lake, my car broke down a couple miles from your house. I tried to walk over the line and I couldn't. It's like I hit a barrier."

  She shook her head. "That makes no sense, why would someone want to keep you here?"